[Manuscript]. [Geography and Heraldry]. - Lot 1

[Manuscript]. [Geography and Heraldry]. Manuscript and geographical BOOK of arms and mottoes. S.l.n.n., (early eighteenth century). Small in-4. Mottled, polished contemporary tan calf, spine ribbed, small gilt-lettered caissons, title in contemporary ms on paper, triple gilt fillet on covers, gilt arms pushed to center, double gilt fillet at edges, red edges (split lower jaw..., slight rubbing and minor defects; endpapers worn, wetness at very beginning of volume with a few worn margins, then sporadic, title faded, one bifeuillet flying and worn in margin, soiling). An interesting and intriguing manuscript of customary geographical and heraldic knowledge, probably produced around 1700. Contents: (1) ruled title page, ornamented and handwritten in brown ink, set in a watercolor pen-and-ink frame (floral and ribbon), surmounted by a watercolor handwritten ornamental piece, in the taste of the period between Baroque and Rococo styles;462 ruled and numbered pages, handwritten on both sides in brown ink on laid paper, some left blank. Illustrated with 82 coats of arms drawn and painted on paper, cut out and pasted into the text, corresponding to the countries and regions described. With the arms of Pierre Charles de Moncrif, Moncreiffe of that Ilk. Bound with 5 black copper-engraved maps (one for each continent mentioned), each inscribed in a circle and appearing to be of the same workmanship (ca. 21 x 31 cm). Although incomplete (a few sections cut off, some missing, but rarely affecting the geographical representation itself), it contains the excudit of Gabrielle Landry, publisher and dealer in engravings in Paris (ca. 1670-1740). We have not identified any particular origin for these maps, which appear to be very rare. The first leaf, containing definitions of geography and specialized terms, ends with "Geography is the eye of history, because to remember history well, one must know the places where things happened"... Text divided into : General (pp.3-8), Europe in general (11-26), Africa in general (29-38), Asia in general (41-52), La Mérique (sic) en général (53-66), Europe en particulier (69-365), L'Asie en particulier (367-402), L'Afrique en particulier (403-424), La Mérique en particulier (427-442), les 7 merveilles du monde (443-446) and Table (447-454). Provenance: Abbé Pierre-Charles de Moncrif, priest dean and canon of Autun cathedral, grand-vicaire of the bishop of Rieux and doctor of the Sorbonne, from the first half of the 18th century, imprisoned for fornication in the mid-18th century, with his engraved espicopal armorial bookplate. The arms on the ex libris and on the iron take up Moncrif's claimed Scottish origins, with the title Moncreiffe of that Ilk.