[Ex collection Alkemade and Van der Schelling] "Kronyk der Fransche Koningen

van Pharamond tot Lodewijk XIII ingesloten." Manuscript from the early 17th century, ca. 820 written pages (quires A-Z, AA-EE and AAA-ZZZ) in a very consistent handwriting, with later inserted title in manuscript with owner's name P. van der Schelling, the first page of the actual manuscript with owner's name C. V. Alkemade, bound in contemporary half vellum with remains of letterpress title on front cover and manuscript title on the spine, 4to size.

Here and there with small defects (e.g. water stain in the final few quires) and some traces of use and wear. Provenance: the manuscript contains no clues about the identity of the author. The manuscript comes from the famous collection of Van Alkemade and Van der Schelling. Pieter van der Schelling (1691-1751) was a Dutch collector and researcher of antiquities, who worked together with his father-in-law Cornelis van Alkemade, also a collector of antiquities. After the death of Cornelis in 1737, Pieter continued the former's work. Pieter supplied annotations for all projects Cornelis was involved in. Cornelis (or Kornelis) van Alkemade (1654-1737) was a Dutch historian and a passionate collector of antiquites, both of coins and of old manuscripts. Through his many publications, Van Alkemade became a great authority in his time as an expert on antiquities. See extensively on Van der Schelling: https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieter_van_der_Schelling. And on Cornelis van Alkemade: https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornelis_van_Alkemade. The manuscripts of the duo were sold at auction after the death of Van der Schelling in 1751, it is possible our manuscript may be found in the extremely rare catalogue of that auction. Further provenance (via catalogues available online): Auction catalogue of the famous collection of Jacob Koning, 1828, p. 108, no. 54 (in the section manuscripts in quarto): "Kronyk der Fransche Koningen, van Pharamond tot Lodewijk XIII. Op papier geschreven. Gekomen uit de bibliotheek van Alkemade en van der Schelling." Catalogue of the manuscript collection of father and son D.C. van Voorst and J.J. van Voorst, 1859, auction in 1860, no. 346. Also a later, unidentified auction strip on inside endpaper. An old annotation on the free endpaper mentions a number of omissions in the manuscript, between Louis IX and Philippe of Valois and between Charles VII and Louis XIII. Blank quires were bound in these places. The manuscript lists 53 French kings, from the year 420 (Pharamond) to circa 1603 (Louis XIII). It is divided into three groups according to the lineages of the French kings, the "Merouijns" (up to the year 750, leaf 74), the "Carolissche" (year 741-988, leaf 75-139) and the "Capets" (year 988-"tot op het tegenwoordige iaer Duysend seshonderd en [unfinished]", remainder manuscript.)