[VILLAREAL (Manuel Fernandes de)] Le Politique tres chrestien. Ou discours politiques sur les actions principales de la vie de feu Monseigneur l'Eminentissime Cardinal Duc de Richelieu. Paris: Toussainct Quinet, 1643. - In-4, soft parchment, smooth spine (contemporary binding). French original edition, dedicated to Cardinal Mazarin, translated from Spanish by François de Grenaille (1616-1680), historiographer to Gaston d'Orléans. Composed by Manuel Fernandes de Villareal (1608-1652), it is an apology for the life and principal acts of Cardinal de Richelieu. According to Hoefer: "Manuel Fernández-Villareal, a Portuguese writer born in Lisbon, was strangled in the same city on October 10, 1652. In all probability, he was of Jewish descent, and from an early age left for Madrid, from where he was taken to Paris. He was subsequently appointed Consul of Portugal. Back in Lisbon, he was put in the dungeons of the Inquisition. An investigation established that he was ostensibly a follower of the Law of Moses, and he was consequently, says Barbosa, handed over to the secular arm. This unfortunate abjured, and, what is horrible to recall, was no less strangled" (Hoefer, XVII, 467). The edition is illustrated with a fine frontispiece portrait of Richelieu engraved by Michel Lasne. A fine copy in contemporary binding. A few stains and small tears to the binding. Discrete light spotting in places.