Plaidoyez de Mr.***, Avocat au Parlement.
Collected Pleadings of a Seventeenth-Century French Lawyer Who Specialized in Matrimonial Cases [Erard, Claude (1646-1700)]. Plaidoyez de Mr.***, Avocat au Parlement. Paris: Jacques Le Febvre, 1696. [iv], 495, [1] pp. Octavo (7-1/2" x 5"). Contemporary calf, gilt spine, gilt tooling to board edges, marbled endpapers, edges of text block rouged. Light rubbing and faint staining to boards, a few nicks and bumps to edges, some chipping to spine ends, corners bumped and worn. Moderate toning to text, light foxing and faint dampstaining to text in a few places, author name in his hand added to title page, author presentation inscription and illegible owner signature below. Rare. $950. * Only edition. This collection of pleadings (with background histories) suggests that Erard specialized in cases asserting the power of husbands and fathers. He seemed to have a particular talent for prosecuting aristocratic women for wayward behavior. Erard's presentation at the famous divorce of the Duc de Mazarin and his wife, Hortense Mancini, is probably the best-known example of his work. Hortense had been one of the mistresses of the English King Charles II before entering into an unhappy marriage with the bizarre Duc de Mazarin, whose extreme jealously and psychosexual oddities compelled her to flee to Rome and later England, an estrangement that lasted nearly 20 years, a period in which she conducted numerous affairs, a few with women. OCLC locates 3 copies, none in North America. Not in Camus.
Price: $950.00
Book number 71868