Folio. Title page is engraved by C. de Pas, [16], 510 pp., [22], 1 table / 251 pp., / [22], 196 pp., +28 pp., engraved title, numerous pagination mistakes, two divisional titles engraved by Joannes Blanchin, folding maps and views, mostly engraved by Henri Raignauld but also by Jean Picart, of Margat in Syria, Acre, Cyprus, Valletta and Malta, smaller plans of Jerusalem, Acre, Rhodes,Valletta, 60 engraved portraits, of which 3 are repeated, and a template for a family tree set within the text, full calf binding of the period, light wear to edges, gilt decorated spine with very small old restoration, pages in general lightly browned with rare and scattered foxing, lower corner of pages 151-152 of the first part torn without any loss to text, light dampness marks on the upper part of almost 60 pages, very small treated worm thread on around 20 pages, marginal small tears to pages 27-28 of the 3rd part without any loss to text, speckled edges, very good condition in general of this very rare Italian work translated and introduced by Jean Baudoin, Bookplate of "Clau. Ant. Mouis. Mouis de Champagne" verso front cover, small old stamp of "C. F. Buchin" on lower margin of first title page and old ink inscription of "Laligant-Morelot ", Chez Thomas Joly, Paris, 1658-1659. ADDED 4 autographed letters of the XVII & XVIII century, one of which was written in Malta by the Maréchal de Montaignac; added also is a 19th century portrait of the Chevalier de La Valette.

Synopsis

Giacomo Bosio, was a member as well as historian of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, the Knights Hospitaller. This is one of the most comprehensive early accounts of the Order, which flourished in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Rhodes, Cyprus and Malta. Bosio’s work was published in Italian in 1621 and translated into French by Pierre de Boissat, Jean Baudoin, and Frère Anne de Naberat, with earlier editions appearing in 1629 and 1643.
Giacomo Bosio was born in 1544 in Chivasso, in the former Province of Turin in the region of Piedmont. He was a son of a noble family from Milan who had already contributed many knights to the Order. Giacomo Bosio arrived in Rome in 1587 and was appointed representative of the Hospitaller Order of the Holy See to the Cardinal Gregorio Petrocchini. He took advantage of his stay in Rome to write the history of his order, under the title Dell’istoria della Sacra Religione, Giovanni di Santo dell’illustrissima milizia Gierosolimitano. Bosio gave his manuscript to two Franciscan brothers called the “Big Brothers” in Italy, who transformed his work into the format known today: forty books grouped into three volumes and printed in folio in Rome in 1621, in 1629/30, in 1678 and in Naples in 1684.
Bosio’s work deals with the history of the Hospitaller’s order from its origin until 1571 with Jean Parisot de la Valette. His story was continued by Brother Bartolomeo dal Pozzo until the year 1688 and first published in Verona in 1703 in two volumes, then in Venice in 1740 under the title Historia della Sacra di religione militare S. Giovanni Gerosolimitano, della Malta.
Bibliographic references: Brunet, 1124; Stylianou, 110 for 1643 edition.