First edition of a famous Dutch history book vividly describing and depicting the cruelties of war committed by the French army of Louis XIV in The Netherlands in the years 1672 and 1673. The illustrations also rank among the best masterpieces of Baroque book-illustration. By their passionate denunciation of the horrors of war, Romeyn de Hooghe's illustrations stand comparison with Goya's Desastres de la Guerra. Thieme & Becker calls the artist "the most important and fertile master of the second half of the 17th century in Holland". And Furstenberg judged the present print-series "One of the few and too-little known masterpieces of the period" (The Book Collector, 1960, p. 432).'
The text includes a detailed account of the cruelties committed by the French army of Louis XIV in the Dutch villages of Bodegraven and Swammerdam. The work was published anonymously because the author, Abraham de Wicqefort (1598-1682), a diplomat and politician, was well-known in Paris and at the French court. He also wrote an excellent manual for ambassadors L'Ambassadeur, ses fonctions, published in The Hague in 1682. The present work became popular in The Netherlands, and was several times republished in Dutch, with the plates reduced.
With a manuscript note on the recto of the final flyleaf. Slightly foxed throughout, the two double-page plates loose. Otherwise in very good condition. Hollstein, Dutch & Flemish, IX, pp. 90-96 (only 7 plates); Landwehr, De Hooghe Book Illustrator 30; STCN 851219519; Van Nierop, Grabowsky etc., Romeyn de Hooghe, 1673.19; Willems, Les Elzevier, 1874 note.