RICHELIEU (Cardinal de). Maximes d'État, ou Testament politique d'Armand du Plessis, cardinal duc de Richelieu. Paris, Le Breton, 1764. 2 volumes in-8, red morocco, triple gilt fillet, ornate spine, inner lace, gilt edges (Period binding). Expanded second edition, published by François-Louis-Claude Marin (1721-1809), a journalist and royal censor from La Ciotat. It is followed by Observations historiques and above all, under a special title, the Lettre sur l'authenticité du Testament politique de Richelieu written by Étienne Lauréault de Foncemagne in response to Voltaire, considerably enlarged in this second edition (the first is from 1750). A very fine copy in contemporary red morocco. Attached is a handwritten note from the period probably addressed to Lord Holderness by the widow of Emmanuel-Armand de Vignerot du Plessis: "La d[uche]sse d'Aiguillon douairiere suplie mylord de recevoir la nouvelle edition du Testament politique du card. de Richelieu. La Lettre qui est a la suite du traité, contient des reponses aux objections que Mr de V[oltaire] a répandu dans plusieurs endroits de ses ouvrages contre lauthen[ti]cite de cette pièce." From the libraries of Robert d'Arcy (1718-1778), Count of Holdernesse, with bookplate; Martine de Béhague (1870-1939), Countess of Béarn, with stamp; and Hubert de Ganay (2019, I, n°130), with bookplate.