LACROIX, Paul. Military and Religious Life in the Middle Age - Lot 224

LACROIX, Paul. Military and Religious Life in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Two major studies, illustrated with several color plates and numerous figures, on the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: the first on military and religious life, the second on manners, customs, and traditions. Paris, Firmin Didot Frères, 1873. Quarto, brown half-shagreen with corner pieces, spine decorated with faux raised bands highlighted by gilded meander patterns and panels adorned with gilded fillets, double gilded fillet framing the covers, marbled edges. V - 571 pp., 14 chromolithographs in serpentine borders and 409 woodcut illustrations (uncollated), including a frontispiece. Spine sun-faded, scuffing, and a few stains on the covers. Frontispiece detached. First edition of this impressive illustrated study on military and religious life in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, by Paul Lacroix (1806–1884), curator of the Arsenal Library. It is accompanied by the author’s other work: *Mœurs, usages et costumes au Moyen-Âge et à l’Epoque de la Renaissance*. Paris, Firmin Didot, 1873. In-4, matching binding, IV–603 pp., fifteen chromolithographic plates including a frontispiece and 440 illustrations; binding in the same condition. Third edition. With a “Max Montecuccoli” library label crossed out in red ink on the inside front covers of both volumes. A fine collection of medieval studies.