Description

ORIGINAL EDITION of these historical anecdotes from Clovis to Louis XIV in which ".We must not expect to find here anecdotes to add to a scandalous chronicle, nor facts based on the faith of a passionate, spiteful or satirical writer. Everything we say is based on the testimony of the most esteemed authors."(Warning)
ERNST JÜNGER'S COPY.
Each volume bears his ex-libris engraved by Émile Feltesse with the motto "Tempestaticus Maturesco"("I ripen in storms"), the autograph of the date and place of purchase and Jünger's initials.
The copy was bought on 18 March 1942 on the rue du Cherche Midi. Ernst Jünger had been working for the German High Command in Paris since April 1941, leaving in August 1944. The diary of the occupation testifies to his bibliophilic rigour: "I have taken the decision not to erase the comments made by booksellers on the state of conservation, the plates, the value of the editions and other similar things, which are often found on the endpaper of books - they add to what Feltesse calls the authenticity of the book. On the ex-libris, I write the date, the place of purchase, or the name of the donor, and sometimes I also note particular circumstances."(3 October 1942). Junger renounced Feltesse several times to design his ex-libris:"In the afternoon at Feltesse's, the copper engraver, with whom I spoke once again about my bookplate. He expressed the idea that the purpose of bookplates is less to indicate ownership than to mark the authenticity of the book and its various destinies."

According to article Bücher aus der Bibliothek Ernst Jüngers (Teil 1), which lists around a hundred copies from Junger's library, there are said to be three versions of the bookplate, all bearing the same motto, and an antique lamp chosen by Jünger is said to be the symbol of the studies (letter to his future publisher Ernst Klett dated 31 December 1955).