(1860). [HAMEL (Frère)]. CHRONIQUE OU HYSTOIRES DES GRANDES COMPAGNIES COGNUES SOUBS LE NOM DE ROUTIERS QUE ONT DITS TARD-VENUS que ont ravagier les pays de Bourgogne, de France, d'Auvergne et de lyonnois. No place, name or date (ca. 1860-80). Large handwritten volume in-4° of 146 leaves on vellum skin, stiff vellum. A true bibliophilic curiosity! Faux manuscript executed in the 19th century, illuminated and profusely decorated on particularly stiff vellum. In the 14th century, the name Tard-venus was given to brigands from all nations recruited by England who crossed France to beg the Pope, then in Avignon, for money and indulgences. It is an excellent account of the places that were the scene of one of the bloodiest tragedies of the 14th century, when France was still under the yoke of the fatal days of Crécy and Poitiers. A similar copy was acquired by a Milanese collector, M. Morbio, then sold to the Comte de Briant in 1872 and considered to be one of the most valuable books in his library. It was presented at an auction in 1889, where the deception was discovered by a chartist, narrowly avoiding a pitiful acquisition by the Bibliothèque Nationale. (cf. DELISLE, in Bibliothèque de l'Ecole des Chartes, 1889, pp. 439-449). 2 leaves repaired.