Lot 49: CRESPIN, Jean I (d.1572, editor). \KTa swzomena. Tvn palaiotatvn poihtvn gewrgika, boukolika

CRESPIN, Jean I (d.1572, editor). \KTa swzomena. Tvn palaiotatvn poihtvn gewrgika, boukolika, k[ai] gnwmika\k. [Geneva]: Eustache Vignon, [1584].

4 volumes bound in one, 16° (118 x 74mm). Woodcut title borders. Woodcut head- and tailpieces, initials and ornaments. Text in Greek and Latin. Retaining blanks Z8 and \\h8. (Variable light browning and spotting, occasional inkmarking, a few leaves trimmed at the head, affecting running titles or page numbers, quire * misbound after quire Z, short tear on Z4).

BINDING: French contemporary cream morocco gilt à la fanfare, boards with central arms of Anne, duc de Joyeuse in cartouches, cartouches and compartments formed with strapwork, compartments filled with leafy spray, foliate, floral and other tools, triple fillet borders, gilt board-edges, spine gilt à la fanfare, compartments filled with leafy spray, foliate and other tools, gilt edges (extremities a little rubbed, superficial cracking on spine and joints, lacking ties); modern brown cloth solander box.

PROVENANCE: Anne, duc de Joyeuse (binding) -- [?]Douvrie, 17 April 1714 (inscription on flyleaf) -- 19th-century inscription on upper pastedown recording prices of other copies.

A FANFARE BINDING FOR THE SOLDIER AND FAVOURITE OF HENRI III, ANNE, DUC DE JOYEUSE (1561-1587). The son of Guillaume, vicomte de Joyeuse and France, Anne de Joyeuse was noted in his youth for the sweetness of his character, his verve, and his generosity. As a soldier he distinguished himself at the siege of La Fère in 1580, and became a favourite of the King, who rapidly advanced him through a series of titles and positions to that of Duke. Joyeuse's pre-eminence at the court was consolidated by his marriage to the queen's half-sister, Marguerite de Lorraine, a ceremony that was celebrated with festivities which were widely held to eclipse all previous in their magnificence. Anxious to maintain his status as a soldier, Joyeuse took command of an army in Gascony, and led the campaign there against the forces of Henri de Navarre (the future Henri IV), which culminated in the battle of Coutras on 18-20 October 1587, in which Joyeuse was killed. His body was recovered from the battlefield on the orders of Henri III and Joyeuse was buried with the full ceremony of a state funeral.

The present anthology of Greek poetry by Hesiod, Theocritus, Bion, Moschus and others was compiled and edited by Jean Crespin I and published by him in Geneva in 1569-70; it was then reissued by Vignon in this edition, and later in 1600. Adams P-1689.

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