LURBE, Gabriel de

by Gabriel de Lurbe

£1,950 · Offered by Sokol Books

Very rare, excellent second edition in French, finely printed by Simon Millanges (Montaigne s printer), of this important description of the history of the statutes of the town of Bordeaux by the historian Gabriel de Lurbe, a native of Bordeaux who published several works on the subject. The first edition was published in Latin in 1589 and then translated and expanded by the author and published in 1594. The work offers a fascinating insight into the every day life of the town as the statutes concern the regulation of its every aspect from the duties of the police and the Judiciary to fishmongers selling fresh fish or fishmongers selling salted fish (as a port town the trade in salt fish for the fleet was important). Naturally many of these statutes concern wine and give a very vivid description of the business with eleven chapters devoted to every aspect of the wine trade from the manufacture of barrels to the prohibition of the purchase of wines from areas outside Bordeaux, such as Armagnac. There is a specific regulation concerning the (very lucrative) trade with the English in wine which prohibits anyone taking an Englishman to buy wine from anyone other than the bourgeois of the town, and forbids English merchants from seeking to buy wine directly sur les champs unless with express permission from the relevant authorities. There are specific statutes concerning the labelling of wine, wine to be drunk in taverns, wines that are forbidden to be brought into the town, at wh

• Binding: Hardcover

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.