Memoirs of the Cardinal de Retz. Containing the Particulars of His Own Life, with the Most Secret Transactions of the French Court and the Civil Wars. Four Volumes

London: T. Becket, T. Cadell, and T. Evans, 1774. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Blue leather spines & corners over blue marbled paper-covered boards, top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed, marbled endpapers, copper engraving frontispiece to v. 1. Bindings likely late 19th century. Modest wear to edges, armorial bookplate of E. [Edward] Hubert Litchfield to each volume. Litchfield's collection was sold by Parke-Bernet in 1951. De Retz, who seems to have been something of a schemer, was intimately involved in The Fronde, the series of French civil wars 1648-1653. His memoirs are noted for their literary quality. Dumas used them heavily for his Three Musketeers sequel, "Twenty Years After. (Inventory #: 201962)