Royal Chapel, Interior, 1678-79, compl. After 1708 (ceiling decorations by A. COYPEL)

1724 score of André Cardinal Destouches' opera Issé. Destouches’s Issé premiered in 1697, just nine years after the death of Jean-Baptiste Lully. The tradition of featuring new operas at the court prior to a public premiere—common during Lully’s later years—was reinstated with this work. When Destouches revived the opera in 1708, he enlarged the original three-act work to five acts. This allowed for expanded divertissements, choruses, and more elaborate arias, which appealed to contemporary public preferences. The volume in the Virtual Rare Book Room is the five-act version.

Map shows settleements on the island of Hispaniola; the coast of New Spain and "Florida" [southeastern north american continent] along the Gulf of Mexico, and the islands in the Caribbean area. Relief shown pictorially; depths shown by isolines. Scale not given.

Map shows settlements and missions in Venezuela; settlements and missions along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, the Yucatan peninsula, Cuba, and Jamaica. Includes illustrations of shipwreck [expedition by Franciscus de Garay to explore the Gulf in 1519]. Relief shown pictorially. Scale not shown.

Map shows southeastern portion of the North American continent as "Florida," the "Lucaye Ins." off the coast on "Florida" map; on second map, Persia, the Red Sea, the Arabian peninsula, Egypt and Ethiopia. Relief shown pictorially. Scale not given.

Opening page of a 17th century Spanish Baroque Carta executoria, providing geological evidence of aristocratic lineage with no trace of peasant, Jewish or Moorish blood. More than simply asserting one's high standing, such documents exempted the holder from civil suits and taxation. Carta executoria were often ostentatiously illuminated (as here), to suggest the wealth and taste of the grantee. Displays large intricate initial "D" (i.e. Don Carlos, King of Spain from 1665 - 1700) in the form of an ornate fountain incorporating fish, snakes, birds, and foliage.

Satirical Print of English preacher, political advisor and soldier who supported the Parliamentary cause during the English Civil War. The engraving, circa. 1600, shows Hugh Peters with a devil on his back with each foot on a stack of books that correspond to church and state while he holds the ties to bags of money that are labeled with "Revenue", "Plunder", "Thimbles" and "Benefices". Symbols of the monarchy and the church appear on the floor by his feet.

Engraving by Boston printmaker Thomas Clarke showing a man and woman weeping into handkerchiefs in front of the grave of George Washington. Washington's monument includes his face engraved below a cherubim and the epitaph "There is Reft in Heaven" and is set at the foot of a weeping willow. The two figures are being consoled by a figure of Hope, who stands by an anchor and points to heaven.