12mo. [16], 514, 120pp. Later calf, ruled and lettered in gilt. A trifle rubbed. Marbled endpapers, gilt dentelles, bookplate of Le Mis. de Biencourt to FEP, armorial bookplate of Biencourt-Poncins toe recto of FFEP, recent bookplate of Robert J. Hayhurst to verso, small marginal repairs to leaves F1-2, very occasional light spotting.

A French reprint of the Elzevir edition of the same year of a series of twenty-six biographies of princely favourites thwarted by their own ambitions, commonly attributed to French historian and librarian to Louis XIV, Pierre Dupuy (1582-1651). Notable figures include, inter alia, Apelles, advisor to Philip V of Macedon; Lucius Aelius Sejanus, confidant of Emperor Tiberius; Pierre de la Broce, councillor of Philippe II of France, and Maio of Bari, Grand Admiral of Sicily during the reign of William I. The work is appended by a detailed narrative by counsellor at the court of Louis XIII, Michel de Marillac (1563-1632) concerning the events surrounding the assassination of his fellow courtier Concino Concini, marquis dé Ancre (d. 1617) at the behest of the King. The book was immensely successful and immediately, and often spuriously, reprinted.