VERTOT (René Aubert de). Histoire des chevaliers hospitaliers de S. Jean de Jérusalem, appellez depuis les chevaliers de Rhodes, et aujourd'hui les chevaliers de Malte. Paris, Rollin, Quillau, Desaint, 1726. 4 volumes in-4, marbled calf, triple gilt fillet, coat of arms in the centre, spine decorated, red edges (Binding of the period). First edition of this work on the Order of Malta. This first edition, "the most beautiful and most esteemed" of the work, according to Saffroy, is illustrated with 77 plates out of text, including a portrait of the author after Deluÿn, 70 portraits out of text of the great masters of the Order, a plan of Rhodes and 5 fold-out maps, all engraved in intaglio by Laurent Cars. This work contains the annals of the Order from its foundation up to the 1720s. The last volume contains the old and new statutes of the Order and the list of knights. A copy bound with the arms of an unidentified contemporary. From the libraries of Pierre Champy (1793-1876), with bookplate, and d'Assier de Valenches, with wet stamp. Corners bumped, spine rubbed, small worm gallery in margin of pp. 400-460 and 570-640 of vol. I., and pp. 400-450 of vol. III, without loss of letters. Saffroy, I, n°5420 - Cohen, 1011 - Quérard, X, 129 - Hellwald, 35.