CHALCONDYLE (Laonicus). L'Histoire de la décadence de l'Empire grec et establissement de celuy des Turcs. Paris, Mathieu Guillemot, 1650. 3 parts in an in-folio volume, red morocco, Du Seuil decoration, ornate spine, gilt edges (period binding). New edition of the important History of the Turks by the 15th-century Byzantine historian Laonicus Chalcondyle, translated into French by Blaise de Vigenère, which was first published in 1577. The History is divided into 22 books. Chalcondyle's historical account, covering the period from 1298 to 1462, occupies the first 10 books. It describes the fall of the Byzantine Empire and the rise of the Ottoman Empire. It is followed by the continuation by Thomas Artus, forming books 11 to 18, covering the years 1463 to 1612, and then, in the second volume, books 19 to 22 composed by François-Eudes de Mézeray covering the period from 1612 to 1649. Five other texts under separate pagination complete the second volume: Baudier (Michel). Histoire générale du serrail, et de la cour du granseigneur empereur des Turcs. -- Vigenère (Blaise de). Illustrations on the history of the Athenian Chalcondile, the decline of the Greek Empire, and the establishment of that of the Turks. -- Several descriptions of the customs, both of the magistrates and officers at the door of the emperor of the Turks, and of the peoples subject to his Empire. -- Artus (Thomas). Tableaux prophétiques des empereurs Severe et Leon, avec leurs épigrammes prédisans la ruyne de la Monarchie des Turcs. The Histoire des Turcs by Chalcondyle, Artus and Mézeray is adorned with a large folding plate depicting the city of Constantinople and 24 copper-engraved portraits of sultans in the text. The section on illustrations by Blaise de Vigenere includes a folding woodcut plate depicting the Turkish emperor's army and two full-page copper-engraved compositions. The section on costumes is the most lavishly illustrated. It has 62 fine full-page plates of men's and women's costumes, except for the first depicting the emperor on his throne, engraved on copper after Nicolas Nicolay. The Tableaux prophétiques d'Artus includes 17 large copper-engraved figures. A very rare and handsome copy in contemporary morocco decorated in the Du Seuil style. Two spines split; two costume engravings repaired with scotch tape on ff. 9-10 of the last part, one with small angular loss. Incomplete with the large folding plate depicting the city of Constantinople, the plate on the Turkish army and the first engraving of the Descriptions des accoustremens depicting the emperor on his throne (f. A3). The engraving is missing several costumes.