Pufendorf Samuel. histoire du règne de Charles Gustave Roy de Svède comprise en sept commentaires enrichis de tailles douces. Traduite en françois sur le latin de monsieur le Baron... Avec trois indices. Nuremberg (Nuremberg) 1697. aux frais de Christophle Riegel par Knorz, folio, frontispiece (copperplate), k. [4], pp. 432; 433-752; 35, [9], k. [4], portraits 12 (copperplate), tabl. 115 (split copperplates), vignettes, initials, finials, engravings in text (copperplates), period parchment binding, page edges creased.
E.XXV, 402 First edition in French. A magnificent edited work, showing a picture of the reign of Swedish King Charles X Gustav (1622-1660). Because his reign covered the years of the Swedish invasion of Poland, large portions of the book are devoted to Polish affairs and are a valuable source for the history of the Republic of 1655-1660. The book is decorated with beautiful copperplate engravings made by prominent European engravers according to drawings by Eric Dahlbergh (1629-1703), an engineer, quartermaster and draughtsman who accompanied the Swedish king in the war effort. More than 50 engravings refer to Poland. They depict views of cities (e.g.: panoramas of Warsaw, Cracow, Toruń, Gdańsk, Szczecin, Brześć Kujawskie, Bydgoszcz, Grudziądz, Piotrków, Pułtusk, Kruszwica, Sandomierz), city plans (e.g.: Warsaw, Gdańsk, Elbląg), historical scenes (e.g. the oath of Polish magnates to the Swedish king on the outskirts of Cracow, the Polish envoy to Karol Gustav near Kolo, the meeting of the Swedish king with the Transylvanian prince Jerzy Rakoczy near Ćmielów) and battle scenes (including the battle of Gniezno, Goleb, Filipów, Opoczno, Tczew or the three-day battle of Warsaw). To Dahlberg's work we owe plans and images of many non-existent or already ruined buildings destroyed by the Swedish army during the invasion (including the palaces of Warsaw, castles in Golub, Iłża, Janowiec, Łowicz, Pińczów, Świecie, Tęczyn, Ujazd, Wiśnicz, Zawichost, Zlotów). In the section on the Danish war campaign, noteworthy are the magnificent fold-out panoramas of naval battles. The engravings according to Dahlberg's drawings impress with their attention to the smallest details, such as weapons, clothing, armament, horse breeds. On one panel, a beautiful map of Poland with coats of arms of each land. A masterpiece of graphic art is separately attached, reflected from 13 copper plates, an almost 5-meter-long scene of the funeral ceremonies of Charles X Gustav, shown against a magnificent panorama of Stockholm. The old-print is considered a primary iconographic source of the appearance of Polish cities, the costumes of the inhabitants and the principles of the art of war of the time. Period parchment binding, page edges decayed. Undated exlibris. Flood marks in several places, slightly rounded lower corner of the book block. Pages 267-270 missing, duplicated 251-254 pasted in their place, single insect mark. Good condition, rare.