JAUNA, Dominicus von (1662-after 1747). Histoire générale des roïaumes de Chypre, de Jérusalem, d'Arménie et d'Egypte, comprenant les croisades et les faits le plus mémorables de l'empire ottoman avec plus d'exactitude qu'aucun auteur moderne les a encore rapportés. A Leyde, Jean Luzac, 1747. 2 volumes 4° (273x203 mm). IV, [62], 760; [2], 761-1439 pp. title-pages printed in red and black, 2 engraved portraits (1 folding), 6 folding maps and plans, engraved headpieces to each chapter. Contemporary red morocco, gilt lace-work roll border to covers, spine on raised bands richly decorated, board edges and turn-ins gilt, edges gilt over marbling. Binding minimally spotted, small repair to front cover of volume II.

Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen's copy, one of the few printed on Dutch laid paper and beautifully bound in marocco.

"Born in 1662 in Turin, Dominique Jauna emigrated to the Levant very early in his life and pursued a parallel career as a trader and a consular administrator. Following the looting of his warehouses at Damietta, Jauna returned to France in 1705. He met the Maurists at Saint-Germain des Prés from whom he acquired his training as a historian. Thanks to the palaeographer Bernard de Montfaucon, Dominique Jauna found employment with Charles VI in Vienna as a consultant and Inspector-General of Trade in 1730. This post allowed him to write his Histoire générale, enabling him to reflect on readings in libraries and archives and on memories gleaned from his years of activity in Cyprus and Egypt."

The division of the book into four distinct parts reflects the author's awareness of the diversity of the areas he wished to cover. The first and most voluminous part (1204 pp.) clearly belongs to the historiography of the kingdom of Cyprus and the crusades, interrupted by descriptions of the main towns which were the theatres of the events described: Jerusalem, Damietta, Tyre and Acre. Yet the Inspector-General for Trade of the Austrian Crown, who dedicated his book to Maria Theresa, could not resist flattering his protectors by emphasising the heroic deeds of the Austrian crusaders.

In the second part, entitled Etat présent de l'Egypte, the author's ultimate aim is not to capture the memories of a Levantine merchant, but rather to put the project of PIERCING A CANAL BETWEEN THE RED SEA AND THE MEDITERRANEAN on the agenda of European sovereigns. In the last part of the work Jauna advocates a union of the main European heads of state to prepare for the conquest of Egypt and Cyprus.

"On the one hand, Jauna was premonitory with his project for a canal between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, but on the other, his support for the conquest of Egypt was completely out of step with the times and the political context. It is this complexity that makes this work so worthy of our attention" (cf. Trélat).

The book is illustrated with the large portrait of the dedicatee, Empress Maria Theresa, and that of the author, both engraved by P. Tanjé after Jos. Schell; furthermore there are the beautiful maps of Cyprus, Palestine, Egypt and Greece as well as a city map of Accon and a cross-section of the Great Pyramid.

A copy with prestigious provenance having belonged to PRINCE ALBERT CASIMIR OF SAXONY, DUKE OF TESCHEN (1738-1822), the founder and patron of the Albertina in Vienna, one of the most important art collections in the world. Duke Albert's  collections passed to his universal heir and adopted son Archduke Charles in 1822 and was then administered by Archdukes Albrecht and Frederick. After the end of the monarchy, the buildings and art collection became Austrian state property, while the library, comprising 25,000 volumes, remained the private property of Archduke Frederick and was sold at various auctions in the 1930s. All the volumes from Duke Albert's library bear the characteristic shelf ticket on the front paste-down.
Another copy in an identical binding kept in the Austrian National Library in Vienna suggests that these copies were intended for presentation.

Bibliographie: Blackmer 870; Atabey 614 (second edition only); Hilmy I, 330; Stylianou 169; Cobham-Jeffery p.28; not in Tobler; Brunet III, 518 (the only one mentioning copies on *grand papier"). - Philippe Trélat. Clio sous le regard d’Hermès: itinéraire et oeuvre de Dominique Jauna, historien de Chypre et des croisades; Crusades 10 (2011), p. 147-168.

PRICE: CHF 15 000