Froissart's Chronicles. Volumes I & II.

Tan leather bindings with black title plates, gilt banding, decoration and lettering on the spine. All edges marbled. Boards have gilt edge banding. Dimensions are for one volume.

Translated from the French edition by Thomas Johnes. These two well finished volumes are superbly restored by Brian Cole. The Chronicles of England, France, Spain, and The Adjoining Countries. From the Latter Part of the Reign of Edward II to the Coronation of Henry IV. Translated from the French editions by Thomas Jones, Esq. to Which are Prefixed a Life of the Author, an Essay on his Works, and a Criticism on His History. In Two Volumes.

Sir John Froissart Jean Froissart (Old and Middle French: Jehan, c. 1337 – c. 1405) (also John Froissart) was a French-speaking medieval author and court historian from the Low Countries who wrote several works, including Chronicles and Meliador, a long Arthurian romance, and a large body of poetry, both short lyrical forms as well as longer narrative poems. 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. Much more than his poetry, Froissart's fame is due to his Chronicles. The text of his Chronicles is preserved in more than 100 illuminated manuscripts, illustrated by a variety of miniaturists. One of the most lavishly illuminated copies was commissioned by Louis de Gruuthuse, a Flemish nobleman, in the 1470s. The four volumes of this copy (BNF, Fr 2643; BNF, Fr 2644; BNF, Fr 2645; BNF, Fr 2646) contain 112 miniatures painted by well-known Brugeois artists of the day, among them Loiset Lyédet, to whom the miniatures in the first two volumes are attributed. The English composer Edward Elgar wrote an overture titled Froissart, inspired by the Chronicles.