Featured Royal Insignia on old French book?

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.

 

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.

 

For what it's worth, the style of French heraldic crown seems to most closely resemble that of a marquis, though your depiction doesn't appear to have the pearl trefoils (but the photo provided is rather blurry).
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:French_heraldic_crowns_-_marquis_v2.svg

 

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

 

Maybe the "sticker" is like an exterior bookplate?

 

ARI for Académie Royale des Inscriptions?

 

Crown looks similar to this one of Louis VI

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...

 

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

Debora

 

Apparently the abbreviation is AIBL, for L’Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres:
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Académie_des_inscriptions_et_belles-lettres

 

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 :

 

Yes very true! It does resemble it quite a bit, great catch!

 

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.

 

Very interesting copy. I think the title-page inscriptions may be the strongest clue. The left appears to read Collegii Paris. Societ. Jesu and the right Donum Auctoris—so it apparently belonged to the Paris Jesuit College and was recorded as a gift from the author. The same ownership wording is found in other books from the Collège de Clermont, later known as Louis-le-Grand.

I would treat the oval label as a separate, later ownership mark. The initials look like A.H.L., not an abbreviation for the Académie, and the title page only identifies Duclos as a member of the Académie; Guérin and Prault were the actual publishers. The coronet may suggest a titled private owner, but it does not necessarily make the label royal. Since the Jesuit library was dispersed and its books sold in 1764, a later noble owner would fit the provenance nicely. So perhaps not a royal insignia—but possibly something even more interesting: an author-presented Jesuit-library copy with another layer of ownership history.