Lot 138
Fine armorial binding - Cardinal Duke of York
Rare Books, Maps and Manuscripts
Auction: 29 August 2012 at 12:00 BST
Description
[Manuscript copy of the funeral oration of James II.] Oraison funebre de tres-haut, tres-puissant, tres excellent et tres religieux Prince Jacques II. Paris, 1702, 8vo, (180 x 130mm.), 71pp., brown morocco gilt with gilt arms of Cardinal Duke of York on sides
Footnote
Provenance: Viscount Strathallan, Stobhall, Perthshire
Note: Henry Benedict Maria Clement Stuart, second son of James III, "the King over the Water" or, to his enemies, "The Old Pretender". Henry's older and only brother was Charles Edward - the Bonnie Prince Charlie of song, daring and disaster. Henry was therefore the last of the Royal Stuarts in direct descent of the senior line. When he accepted a cardinalate in 1747 and was ordained priest one year later he effectively abandoned his birthright as a Stuart. As Bishop of Frascati the Cardinal Duke of York, he reorganized and extended the Seminary alongside his Episcopal Palace, set up the Frascati Seminary Press and established a library.
His arms show the Royal Arms, with the Crown surmound by a Cross and a Cardinal's Hat, and the mantling embraced by the Cardinal knots and tassels give the binding an unusual interest and value. The engraving shows the Royal Arms still quartered for France. The collection known as the Cardinal of York's Library is now in the Vatican.