All the Habsburg Annes

Puget de La Serre, Jean. L'isthoire [!] et les portraits des imperatrices, des reynes, et des illustres princesses de l'auguste maison d'Austriche, qui ont porte le nom d'Anne.

€ 25.000,00

Lavishly produced panegyric on the Habsburg princesses named Anne, executed with exceptional contemporary hand-colouring heightened in gold and preserved in an armorial binding bearing the arms of the dedicatee, Anne of Austria.

Contains brief biographies of thirteen Habsburg princesses and queens sharing the name, from Anne of Austria, Margravine of Brandenburg (1275-1327), to the short-lived Infanta Maria Anna Antonia (1636), including Anne of Austria herself.

Ten of the fourteen full-page engraved portraits are present, each showing the sitter full-length and richly coloured; the book further includes a hand-coloured engraved title vignette, initials, and head- and tailpieces, all carefully highlighted in gold and red.

Puget de la Serre, historiographer of France and one of the most prolific writers of his time, was noted for his close involvement in the design of his books. Presentation copies such as this were specially illuminated for his patrons. Exceptionally rare: OCLC records only five institutional holdings, four in Paris; no copy traced in commerce.

A fine and representative example of 17th-century French court book culture, combining dynastic celebration with refined visual craftsmanship at the height of Anne’s regency.