HAUTESERRE (Antoine Dadin de)

De ducibus, et comitibus provincialibus Galliae, libri tres. Toulouse, Arnauld Colomiès, 1643. In-4, fawn calf, triple gilt fillet, coat of arms in center, spine decorated with small arms, double ? interlaced and the Jesuit cipher repeated, red edges (Period binding). First edition, published in Toulouse, of this three-book legal treatise on the powers and rights exercised by dukes and counts in the kingdom of France. A native of Cahors, Antoine Dadin de Hauteserre (1602-1682) was a great jurisconsult of his time, and held the chair of law at the University of Toulouse, where he died. Copy with Fouquet's coat of arms, from the library of the Jesuit College in Paris. Louis XIV's powerful superintendent had donated a perpetual annuity of 6,000 livres to the Jesuits of Paris to help them expand their library: the books acquired by the Jesuits with this sum were decorated with Fouquet's coat of arms, and bear the IHS numeral of the Society of Jesus on the spine. Handwritten bookplate on title: Collegii Paris. Societ. Jesu. Ex-libris Ex Bibliotheca C. Van Baviere. Spotting throughout. Hinges cracked, headbands missing, three jaws previously restored (the restoration did not hold).