CHAUMEAU (Jean). Histoire de Berry, contenant l'origine, antiquité, gestes, prouësses, privileges et libertés des Berruyers. Avec particulière description dudit païs. Lyon, Antoine Gryphius, 1566. In-folio, brown calf, ornate spine, mottled edges (17th century binding). First edition of the only known work by the author. The illustration, entirely wood-engraved, includes a superb frame on the title bearing Gryphe's motto, surmounted by a griffin with outstretched wings and flanked by the allegories of Prudence and Time; the arms of the town of Bourges (p. 162), and two plates outside the text: a double-page map of Berry, with the names of localities in lower-case italics, and a superb cavalier view of the town of Bourges set in an oval frame, engraved by Jean Arnoullet, folded. The work is also adorned with numerous figures of coats of arms of municipal officers, headbands, ornate letters and Bourges coins. The son of a Bourges city prosecutor, Jean Chaumeau, seigneur de Lassay, was a lawyer and archaeologist. He was elected alderman of his town in 1540. His work contains a legendary account of the origins, antiquity, splendour and nobility of his province and the capital of Berry, but the modern part is of the greatest interest, as it abounds in details of real historical and documentary importance. Chaumeau's long chronology, drawn up in 1562, gives Bourges as 3,733 years old. Old handwritten bookplate at the bottom of the title: J. F. Arnoult d.M.S. 9#. From the library of Louis-Alexandre Gitton du Plessis (1800-1888), lawyer and ardent collector of Blois, with bookplate. Minor spotting to head cover and boards, a few spots and discreet spotting. Brun, 153 - Saffroy, II, n°18065.