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VALOIS, MARGUERITE DE. (QUEEN OF NAVARRE). (L'HEPTAMERON). CONTES ET NOUVELLES DE MARGUERITE DE VALOIS, REINE DE NAVARRE. Nouvelle Edition Ornée de Soixante-Quinze Jolies Gravures. Tome Premier... Tome Huitieme.
Paris: Duprat-Duverger, 1807. 8 vols, 18mo, appx. 1400pp, 1 engr. frontispiece, 74 engr. plates. Contemp. mottled calf, gilt-tooled borders and edges, spine tooled in gilt with contrasting morocco labels, marbled endpapers, bookplates at ffep, moderate wear, chiefly at extremities, 1/2-inch chips at spine tail vol.2, head and tail vol.3, upper joints of two vols worn, but cords strong, a good, clean set. ¶ Later edition of these tales by Marguerite de Valois, Queen of Navarre (1492-1549), first published in 1558. Modelled on the Decameron of Boccaccio, and claimed by Marguerite to be based on true contemporary events, these stories are framed as the entertainment of several days while five men and five women travellers are detained by bad weather at an abbey in the Pyrenees. Each storsy deals with a love affair, treated in a serious and respectful way by the author 'who finds grounds for grave censure in the laxity which had provided amusement to readers of the earlier tales and fabliaux' (Oxford Comp. to French Lit). An admirer of Plato, Marguerite learned Latin, Italian, and Spanish, studied Hebrew and protected Calvin and other enlightened men of her day at the court of Navarre. ¦ With engraved plates by Jourdan after the designs by Freudeberg which first accompanied the Berne edition of 1780-81. Cf. Brunet III, 1415ff; Cf. Cohen 682, citing 'London' edition of 1787. Quérard III, p.530.
Offered for US$ 225.00 by: Dailey Rare Books - Book number: 2672.