[BAUDOUIN DE FLANDRES]. LHystoire et cronicque du noble et vaillant Baudouyn conte de Flandres qui espousa le dyable. Small in-4, navy blue morocco, triple fillet with armorial supra-libris of the Mello library in the centre, spine with 5 nerfs nicely decorated with small irons, interior lace, edges gilt on marbling (Trautz-Bauzonnet). Bechtel, 57/B-65 // Brunet, I-7076 // Fairfax Murray, 26 // Hain, 2707 // USTC, 79155. (66f.) / A8, B4, C8, D-E4, F-G8, H-L4, M6 / 38 long lines, gothic car / 130 x 187 mm. Eighth edition in gothic type, reported by Bechtel. A prose version of an earlier poem whose author is unknown. It tells the story of Baudouin IX, Count of Flanders, who married a devil, was set on the right path by a hermit, then took part in the Crusade and remained a prisoner of the infidels for twenty-five years. He then returned to Flanders, where his daughter Jeanne, wife of Ferrand of Portugal, had him put to death. A curious, romanticised story of the real Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders, who became Emperor of Constantinople in 1204 and was killed in 1206. Lavishly illustrated edition with a large woodcut on the title depicting Baudouyn and the dyable, his future wife, on horseback in a forest, another large woodcut on the last leaf depicting the Last Judgement, 54 woodcuts in the text, 13 of which are repeated, the printer's mark on the verso of the last leaf and numerous initials. A very fine copy bound by Trautz-Bauzonnet with the arms of Baron Seillière. USTC lists only one copy in private hands and none in public libraries. Angular repairs to title and 3 leaves. Provenance: Nicolas Yemeniz (9 May 1867, no. 2339), Baron Achille Seillière (supra-libris, absent from sales in 1887, 1890 and 1893) and Fairfax Murray (label, no. 26).