Földvári Books

Important Work on the Decline of the Ottoman Empire

[La Croix, Édouard de] Du Vignau, sieur des Joanots

L'état présent de la puissance Ottomane, Avec les causes de son Accroissement, & celles de sa Décadence. Dedié à son Altesse Serenissime Monseigneur le Grand Duc de Toscane. […].

A Paris: Chez Daniel Hortemels, Saint Jacques, au Mecenas, M. DC. LXXXVII [1687]. First edition. In contemporary leather. Spine with five raised bands, compartments gilt, titled. Tinted edges. (30), 370, (4) p. [Complete.]. Bookplate and shelfmark on inner front panel. A different possessor’s inscription on flyleaf. Ownership stamp on title page. Spine with worm traces. Corners slightly bumped. Inside clean with occasional stains throughout. Overall in very good condition.

First edition of Du Vignau’s important work dealing with the decline of the Ottoman Empire.

L'état présent de la puissance Ottomane was written after the unsuccessful siege of Vienna by the Ottomans in 1683 and the following withdrawal. It deals with the possible reasons led to the decline of the Ottoman Empire and provides an overview of the period Ottoman power. The book gained interest throughout Europe, and in the subsequent year a second edition was printed in the Hague and an English translation was also published.

A year after the present work Du Vignau published another book Le Sécretaire turc. “In both works, he described himself as a former secretary at the French embassy in Istanbul, the ‘secrétaire-interprète’ to the King’s fleet in the Mediterranean, and even a godson to Louis XVI. None of these claims appear to be true.” (Ghobrial, 2013) Sieur des Joanots Du Vignau was a pseudonym invented by Édouard de La Croix who was indeed a secretary in the French embassy in Istanbul between 1670 and 1680 and again between 1685–1686. La Croix published his Mémoires in 1684 and four other books between 1686 and his death in 1704, among them Le Sécretaire turc and the present book. “The reason for his having used a pseudonym remains unclear. Interestingly, the two titles published under the name Du Vignau […], are the only books written by La Croix that were not dedicated to Louis XVI, but instead to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, an indication perhaps of his attempts to cultivate a new patron in the person of Cosimo III de’ Medici.” (Ghobrial, 2013)

Scarce, we could trace only 3 copies in institutional holdings (BL; BnF; Bibliothèque municipale de Lyon).

Provenance: Bookplate: "De la bibliothèque du Comte Nicolas d’Eszterhazy”; ownership inscription in ink: “Clements[?]”.

Bibl.: Ghobrial, J-P.: The Whispers of Cities: Information Flows in Istanbul, London, and Paris in the Age of William Trumball. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. pp. 1–7.

.

Price: €8,000.00