History and Politics from India to Mexico
HORN, Georg. Dissertationes historicae et politicae. Leiden: Franciscus Hackius. 1655.
12mo. Late seventeenth-century mottled calf, boards double-filleted in gilt, fleurs-de-lys cornerpieces, centrepiece incorporating Christogram ‘IHS’ and Three Nails, spine gilt in compartments with crowned dolphin and fleur-de-lis gouge at foot (Olivier pl. 2522 fer 17, see below), edges sprinkled red; pp. [16], 389, [27 (index)]; title-page engraved, woodcut initials, head-, and tailpieces; upper hinge with 60-mm split but holding firm; minute abrasion to upper board, corners worn, tailcap chipped, subtle restoration to endcaps and joints at head; the occasional small spot, light toning to first and final ff.; overall a very good, crisp copy; early ownership inscription ‘Colleg[ium] Rotomag[ensis] Societ[atis] Jesu’ in brown ink to title (see below).
First edition of this uncommon collection of essays on history and politics by the Protestant historian Georg Horn, our copy bound for the library of the Jesuit College of Rouen.
Georg Horn (Georgius Hornius, 1620–1670), a German Protestant scholar and professor of history at the universities of Harderwijk and Leiden, was among the most widely read historical writers of the Dutch Golden Age. His Dissertationes historicae et politicae gathers essays on a wide range of subjects, including the origins of the Batavians, the Aztec Empire, democracy and aristocracy, India and Vasco da Gama, and the rise of the Saracens, with discussions of Muhammad and the origins of Islam. Like his other, better-known works, notably De originibus Americanis (1652) and Arca Mosis, sive Historia mundi (1666), the Dissertationes reflects Horn’s ambition to present universal history through the lens of contemporary Protestant scholarship.
This copy comes from the library of the Jesuit College of Rouen, one of the most important educational institutions in early modern France. Established in 1593, its alumni included Pierre Corneille, Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle, and the explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. Following the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1762, the institution continued as the Collège Royal; its buildings now house the Lycée Pierre-Corneille.
The spine bears tools associated with bindings produced for Louis de France, the Grand Dauphin (1661–1711), eldest son of Louis XIV.
Outside continental Europe, OCLC and Library Hub find three copies in the US (Florida Atlantic University, Newberry, and Wisconsin) and five in the UK (Aberdeen, Bodleian, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Trinity St David), to which CLC adds Carlisle Cathedral.
CLC H981; USTC 1819058; STCN 061448036.
SKU: 2125331