Item #173 De Constantinopoleos Topographia libri IV. Petrus Gyllius, 1490–1555 Pierre Gilles.
De Constantinopoleos Topographia libri IV.
De Constantinopoleos Topographia libri IV.
De Constantinopoleos Topographia libri IV.
De Constantinopoleos Topographia libri IV.
De Constantinopoleos Topographia libri IV.
De Constantinopoleos Topographia libri IV.
De Constantinopoleos Topographia libri IV.
De Constantinopoleos Topographia libri IV.
De Constantinopoleos Topographia libri IV.
De Constantinopoleos Topographia libri IV.

De Constantinopoleos Topographia libri IV.

Publisher: Lugduni Batavorum (Leiden): Ex officina Elzeviriana, 1632.

Illustration: Engraved allegorical title-page with monumental column, serpent-emblem, and panoramic view of Constantinople; decorative initials and ornaments throughout.

Edition: Elzevir printing, 1632.

Binding: Contemporary speckled calf, gilt-ruled boards, spine with gilt ornaments and morocco title-label (“CONSTANT. DESCRIP.”). Marbled endpapers. Ownership gilt-stamped to pastedown: “MR ROUCHER.” Binding rubbed with light wear to joints and corners, but attractive and sound, with original gilt tooling well preserved.

Description: A choice Elzevir edition of Pierre Gilles’ pioneering survey of Constantinople, one of the earliest systematic accounts of the city’s monuments, aqueducts, palaces, and Byzantine antiquities. Gilles, a French scholar dispatched by King François I, was among the first to document the physical fabric of Byzantium under Ottoman rule.

This 1632 Elzevir printing, in its desirable duodecimo format, is especially prized by collectors of Elzeviriana. The engraved allegorical title is a highlight, combining monumental imagery with a striking bird’s-eye view of Constantinople.

This copy bears a fascinating provenance: the front pastedown is gilt-stamped “MR ROUCHER.” A later pencil note links it to Jean-Antoine Roucher (1745–1794), the French poet of Les Mois, who was guillotined during the Revolution. Though direct confirmation is still lacking, the connection is plausible and highly suggestive. The use of “MR” — a modest civilian title rather than an aristocratic form of address — may itself reflect Revolutionary-era social currents, when aristocratic titulature was deliberately discarded.

Even without confirmed attribution, this provenance adds significant intrigue and research potential, elevating the copy far above standard Elzevir examples.

Condition: Good+. Contemporary binding rubbed but attractive, gilt still visible; marbled endpapers bright; textblock crisp and complete, with engraved title-page sharp and clean. Ownership gilt “MR ROUCHER” bright and legible.

Annotation: A handsome Elzevir gem with Revolutionary intrigue. Gilles’ De Constantinopoleos in its 1632 Elzevir issue, in contemporary calf with gilt-stamped ownership “MR ROUCHER.” A later hand identifies this as the poet Jean-Antoine Roucher (1745–1794), guillotined during the Revolution. While unconfirmed, the association is tantalizing, and the understated “MR” may echo the era’s civic identity and rejection of aristocratic privilege. A highly collectible Elzevir volume that carries both scholarly and literary resonance — and the potential for further provenance discovery.

Item #173

Price: $1,450.00

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