Beinecke MS 444               France, 1639
Henri de la Thuillerie, Letter (in Lat.)

Letter of rejoicing, from Henri de la Thuillerie to his father, the French
diplomat and politician Gaspard Coignet de la Thuillerie (1597-1653; see
Dictionnaire de Biographie Francaise, v. 9, cols. 146-47), upon the
father's return; at the conclusion (f. 17r):  "Filius amantissimus Henricus de
la Thuillerie. Aetas ix. An. et mens. iij. Na. scriptus anno 1639."

     Parchment, ff. iii (paper) + 17 (original foliation in gold Arabic numerals,
lower right corner of border) + iii (paper), 235 x 205 (119 x 89) mm. Written
in 14-15 long lines, recto only.  Written space and full borders enclosed by
narrow gold band; prickings at corners of both.
     Collation uncertain; many leaves loose and sewn in separately.
     Written in italic, with larger size of script for headings and proper
names.
     Each page has full border incorporating personifications, coats-of-arms,
mottoes, putti, birds, and flowers, in red, blue, green, yellow, gold and
silver, all of mediocre quality.  On f. 1r, full-page drawing with arms of the
Coignet family of Auxerre (azure, 2 swords per saltire argent, hilted to the
base or, between 4 crescents argent).
     Binding:  s. xvii.  Red goatskin, gold-tooled with a "seme" pattern
of swords and crescents, flames and fleurs-de-lis.  Satin doublures.  Traces
of two fastenings.

Written in 1639 in France.  Inscription on f. ii recto, s. xviii [?]:
"Gretre".  Belonged to the Earls of Derby at the Garden Library of Knowsley
Hall, Lancashire (note on f. i verso, followed by "A. b. Shelf 2, N^^o 23") and
bookplate, s. xix, with number "25.E".  Derby sale at Christie's, 19 Oct. 1953,
no. 299 (incorrectly described as an order of nobility) to Maggs.  Given to
Yale by Wilmarth S. Lewis in 1954.

Barbara A. Shailor