ALQUIE, François Savinien d’. Les Mémoires du Voyage de Monsieur le Marquis de Ville au Levant, ou l’histoire curieuse du Siège de Candie, Comprenant en trois parties tout ce qui s’est passé (…) Le tout tiré des mémoires de J.B. Rostagne… [Followed by] : Les Mémoires du Voyage de Monsieur le Marquis de Ville en Dalmatie et au Levant. Amsterdam, chez Henry et Theodore Boom, 1670-1671.
3 parts in 1 volume small 12mo [135 x 74 mm] of (6) ll. including the engraved frontispiece, 60 pp., 453, (1), (1) bl. l., 320 pp. Bound in full stiff lapped vellum, title handwritten on the flat spine. Slightly soiled. Contemporary binding.
First complete French edition of this interesting account of the siege of Candie which brought into conflict the Venetians with the Ottomans during more than 20 years. Willems n°1844; Rahir, La Bibliothèque de l’amateur, 1197; Bulletin Morgand et Fatout, 10089; Brunet, V, 1222; Chadenat 5305; Cioranescu, n°7075; Weber, II, 347; Atabey 17. Missing in Blackmer.
« Fine edition which belongs to the Elzevirian collection. » (Bulletin Morgand et Fatout).
The expedition against the town of Candie (the present Heraklion) was an important moment of the warlike history of the 17th century. This work presents the most detailed relation of this Franco-Venetian expedition against the invasion of Crete by the Ottomans, taken from Giovanni Battista Rostagno’s memoirs.
Secretary of State of Charles-Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy, Rostagno was made responsible by the latter for going with the marquis de Ville, general in chief of the Venetian infantry, sent to Crete to help the Venetians against the Turks.
François Savinien d’Alquié gives here a translation into French and a summary of the original work by Rostagno who was published in Turin in 1668 under the title of Viaggi dell … marchese Ghiron Francesco Villa in Dalmatia e Levante.
The work contains information about the Dalmatian coasts, as well as on the islands of the Aegen Sea. Crete, country of peculiar culture, under Venetian domination since the beginning of the 13th century, was used as a place of refuge by many artists and intellectuals after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. The Ottomans attack it in 1645 with substantial troops.
In 1669, after more than 20 years of siege (the longest siege in history), the town of Candie falls into the hands of the Ottomans, and the Venetians leave Crete, keeping only bases in the ports of Spinalonga and Souda.
A good wide-margined copy of this interesting historical relation, preserved in its contemporary stiff overlapping vellum binding.
It comes from the R.D.-E Gelin’s collection, with stamp and bears the inscription “Sig. studii partis Wallonicae O.F.M. in Belgio” on the frontispiece. Provenance mark crossed out on the title. Various library classification marks.
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