RONSARD (Pierre de). - Lot 53

RONSARD (Pierre de). Les Œuvres de Pierre de Ronsard Gentilhomme Vandosmois Prince des Poetes François. Reveues et augmentees et Illustrees de Commentaires et remarques. Paris: Nicolas Buon, 1623. - 2 volumes in-folio, 360x229: (9 ff.), 211 pp. (1 p.), ff. 212-214, pp. 215-217, (1 p.), ff. 218-220, pp. 221-224, (1 p.), ff. 225-226, pp. 227-840; (1 f.), pp. 875-876, pp. 841-1332, ff. 1333-1336, pp. 1337-1344, ff. 1345-1348, pp. 1349-1350, ff. 1351-1354, pp. 1355-1356, ff. 1357-1360, pp. 1361-1362, ff. 1363-1366, pp. 1367-1368, ff. 1369 badly foliated 3569-1372, pp. 1373-1374, ff. 1375-1378, pp. 1379-1382, ff. 1383-1384, pp. 1385-1386, ff. 1387-1388, pp. 1389 mispaginated 1589-1394, ff. 1395 mispaginated 1595-1396, pp. 1397 mispaginated 1597-1400, ff. 1401-1402, pp. 1403-1708 mispaginated 1728, (6 ff.), 1 portrait. Tan calf, double gilt fillet framing the boards, ornate ribbed spine, red speckled edges (contemporary binding). Barbier, Ma bibliothèque poétique, II, 62. This is the fourteenth collective edition, but according to De Ricci, it is "the most complete and beautiful of Ronsard's works". It was published by Claude Garnier. The illustration includes a handsome title-frontispiece engraved by Léonard Gaultier, based on that of the 1609 edition but in a second state, i.e. with Venus's hair masking her pubis. Added to this is a vignette on the title of the second volume by the same artist, dated 1616, a woodcut portrait of Marc-Antoine Muret in the text, and 12 copper-engraved portraits, including two in the text (Ronsard and Cassandre together, and Nicolas Richelet), nine full-page portraits (Henri II, Charles IX, Henry III, the Duc d'Anjou, the Duc de Lorraine, the Duc de Joyeuse, Marie Stuart, François II and Catherine de Medicis) and one hors texte (the Duc d'Épernon). The portraits were engraved by Claude Mellan, Jean Picquet and Thomas de Leu. The pagination of this edition is convoluted, alternating between pagination and foliation, with several numbering errors. We have chosen to indicate the collation as it stands, mentioning both paginated and folioed leaves. In the second volume, the pagination mistakenly changes from 1428 to 1449. Copy in a 17th-century binding, slightly later than the publication. Interesting note on first lining: "Acheté a Paris 1641. 15 lt les 2 vol." It comes from the library of the high-ranking civil servant and bibliophile Nicolas-Joseph Foucault (1643-1721), bearing his handsome armorial bookplate. It was subsequently owned by the Earls of Macclesfield, with the library's armorial bookplate, dated 1860, and the same coat-of-arms drystamp on the first leaves of each volume. The title of the second volume bears the signature "Ranchin", dating from the 17th or 18th century. Several personalities bore this name at the time, and we have not been able to determine who it specifically refers to. Binding badly restored, some stains and spotting. Title-frontispiece from another copy, reengraved at the bottom and reassembled. Several leaves foxed as usual. The first endpaper of the first volume is missing. The first volume should end on page 874, but ends here on page 840. Pages 841 to 874 were curiously bound at the time of binding after the first two leaves of the second volume, i.e. between pages 876 and 877, and the leaf corresponding to pages 875-876 is duplicated. Worm galling without damage to the text on the last 18 leaves of the second volume. Provenance: Nicolas-Joseph Foucault, with bookplate. - Ranchin, with signature on title of second volume. - Earls of Macclesfield, with bookplate and cold stamp.