297. DEVIENNE (Dom, Charles-Jean-Baptiste Devienne d'Agneaux - Lot 297

297. DEVIENNE (Dom, Charles-Jean-Baptiste Devienne d'Agneaux, called in religion). Histoire de la ville de Bordeaux, première partie contenant les événemens civils et la vie de plusieurs hommes célèbres. Bordeaux, Simon de la Court & Cie, 1771. In-4, [2] f., 8 p. (subscribers), xxxvi, 537 p., [3] f., pl., red morocco with arms framed in triple gilt fillet, ornate ribbed spine, gilt edges, fillets on the edges, gilt garland inside (period binding). First edition of the first part of this famous historical essay by Dom Devienne (1728-1792). This Benedictine of the Congregation of St. Maur, historiographer of Guyenne, was commissioned in 1754 by the jurats of Bordeaux to write the history of the city. The first volume was published in 1771 by Simon de La Court, at the expense of the Bordeaux Jurade, which never rushed to print Volume II, which remained unpublished for almost a century. The text is illustrated with an allegorical frontispiece by Clément-Pierre Marillier (1740-1808) and 5 hors-texte plates. Copy in a remarkable morocco binding embossed with the coat of arms of Henri Léonard Jean Baptiste Bertin (1720-1792), a statesman who held a number of important positions, including lawyer in Bordeaux, councillor and president of the Grand Conseil, intendant of Roussillon and Lyon, then lieutenant general of police in Paris. In 1759, he became Controller General of Finances, but resigned in 1763, going on to create a unique Secretariat of State, covering such diverse fields as manufacturing, mining and agriculture. Fascinated by China, he facilitated cultural exchange with that country. The arms are an unreferenced variant of OHR 1451-3, which also indicates that he was a great collector of books and manuscripts. Binding lightly rubbed, arms quite rubbed with significant gold loss, 7 small spots on boards, ink stain on frontispiece and transfer to title page, tiny worm bite in margin of 5 leaves, paper loss in lower angular margin of 4 leaves (original defect), other minor defects.