Featured Royal Insignia on old French book?

Discussion in 'Books' started by APainter, Jul 26, 2026.

  1. APainter

    APainter Active Member

    Hi Kind educated folks of Antiquers!
    I have a book in my collection, History of Louis the 11th. It's an old book from 1745, inside writing seems to hint that it was in the library of the College of Jesuits. However on the cover there is a "sticker" if you will of an insignia with a crown. I've only seen similar one from Archdukes or Archduchesses for instance. Curious on your thoughts and hypothesis here. s-l1600-67.jpg

    s-l960-1.jpg
     
  2. Ex Libris

    Ex Libris Well-Known Member

    A "sticker" like that is uncommon in my opinion. Can you post a photo of the entire binding? Normally on book bindings there is a so called supralibros.

    Sceneabc (1).jpg
     
  3. bluumz

    bluumz Quite Busy

  4. Bronwen

    Bronwen Well-Known Member

    Does the other notation on the title page mean the book was the gift of the author? I only guess at Latin.
     
  5. Bronwen

    Bronwen Well-Known Member

    Maybe the "sticker" is like an exterior bookplate?
     
  6. Marote

    Marote Well-Known Member

    ARI for Académie Royale des Inscriptions?
     
  7. Marote

    Marote Well-Known Member

    Crown looks similar to this one of Louis VI
    [​IMG]
    Can't find any image of Louis XI (book about him), Louis XIV (academy founded by him) or Louis XV (book written during his reign) with that (type) of crown...
     
  8. Debora

    Debora Well-Known Member

    Yes, a photograph of the entire binding please. It will give context.

    Debora
     
    APainter, Figtree3, Bronwen and 2 others like this.
  9. Any Jewelry

    Any Jewelry Well-Known Member

    2manybooks, Figtree3 and Marote like this.
  10. APainter

    APainter Active Member

    YES, so sorry, I just logged in after being on vacation for a while! Thank you very much everyone for the replies! Here is the requested picture of the binding : Bookside.jpg Bookspine.jpg
     
    Figtree3, Any Jewelry and Ex Libris like this.
  11. APainter

    APainter Active Member

  12. APainter

    APainter Active Member

    My sentiments exactly!

    Oooh, could be, it's starting to add up.

    I think you are on to something here. They were in charge of research for insignias initially, with an emphasis on early French history, so I wouldn't be surprised if they recognized the crown of Louis VI as being significant enough to serve as their bookplate. This would make a lot of sense!

    Sorry about the wait, just added in my previous reply!

    Very true, Marote does make a good point though, it could be the academy after all. After all, they did publish the book.

    Fascinating history to read their initial purpose and what they later became. Translated from the wikipedia page: "The mission of the Academy was initially to establish the inscriptions and currencies of the monuments and medals in honor of King Louis XIV. For this, it had to study the medals and other rarities, ancient and modern, of the king's cabinet as well as the ancient monuments of France." It published 317 historical memoirs until it's dissolution in 1793, this is one of them and I suppose they kept it for a while as well, explaining the sticker.
     
    Last edited: Aug 19, 2026 at 6:51 PM
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