Les Chroniques De J. Froissart Edition Abregee Avec Texte Rapaproche du Francais Moderne Par Mme De Witt, Nee Guizot Ouvrage Contenant 11 Planches En Chromolithographie 12 Letters et Titres Imprimes En Couleur 2 Cartes, 33 Grandes Compositions Tirees En Noir Et 252 Gravures

Paris: Librairie Hachette, 1881. Text in French with a massive number of illustrations of all kinds. Heavy volume bound in full gilt-stamped and tooled white vellum. Spine moderately darkened, covers slightly dust soiled. Some splitting of vellum at spine extremities but not really affecting the solidness of this well bound book. 840 pages. 12 1/2 inches tall by 8 1/2 inches wide by 2 1/2 inches thick. Silent film star Rudolph Valentino’s own copy with the large Valentino bookplate (4 1/2 x 5 1/4 inches) on the flyleaf. The bookplate reads in bold type “EX LIBRIS - RUDOLPH VALENTINO” and the illustration depicts a Medieval Crusades battle scene of a knight on horseback armed with a long lance and holding a large decorated shield in combat with a Muslim soldier armed with a long sword and carrying a shield, and bears the artist’s name, William Cameron Menzies. One of the greatest art directors and production designers in the history of Hollywood as well as a film director in his own right, Menzies was a good friend of Valentino and worked on Valentino’s films, Cobra, The Eagle, and The Son of the Shiek. Some of Menzies’s other superb work includes Gone With the Wind, Things to Come, Invaders From Mars, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Our Town, Duel in the Sun, The Thief of Bagdad, etc. For centuries, Froissart's Chronicles have been recognised as the chief expression of the chivalric revival of the 14th century kingdoms of England, France and Scotland. His history is also an important source for the first half of the Hundred Years' War.