MARGUERITE DE NAVARRE. Le Tombeau de Marguerite de Valois Ro - Lot 28

MARGUERITE DE NAVARRE. Le Tombeau de Marguerite de Valois Royne de Navarre. First made en Distiques Latins par les trois Soeurs Princesses en Angleterre. Depuis traduictz en Grec, Italien, & François par plusieurs des excellent Poëtes de la France ... A Paris, de l'impr. de Michel Fezandat, et Robert Granjon, 1551. In-8, blue morocco, middles decorated with a flowery oval enclosing a fleur-de-lys, 5-rib spine decorated with flowers, inner tooth, gilt tr. (Trautz-Bauzonnet). ORIGINAL EDITION of this extremely rare collection (see cat. Rahir, Part 5, No. 1608), composed on the death of the death of Queen Marguerite, sister of François I, and which appears to be the first ancestor of the "Tombeaux", compiled by poets in honor and memory of a poet. Printed in both round and italic type, it is adorned on the verso of the title with a fine woodcut portrait of the queen at the age of 52. A curious collection of 104 unencrypted leaves published by Nicolas Denisot, known as Comte d'Alsinois (his anagram). Like Marot and many others, he enjoyed the protection of the Queen of Navarre. The engraver Robert Granjon is responsible for this fine printing in round italic type. The verses composed by Anne, Marguerite and Jeanne de Seymour are accompanied by a Greek translation translation by Jean Dorat, an Italian translation by J.-P. de Mesmes and two French versions, one by J. de Bellay, the other by Antoinette de Loynes and Jean-Antoine Baïf. These are followed by pieces by Ronsard, Du Tillet, Nic. Bourbon, Ch. de Sainte-Marthe, etc... This work, a sort of monument to the memory of François I's sister - protector of the arts and letters - consists mainly of the long poem in one hundred distiches by the three Seymour sisters, princesses of England (Anne, Marguerite and Jeanne), daughters of Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, who ruled England from 1547 to 1549 and was beheaded in 1552 after seizing power with the help of the Protestants. Their translation is the work of Baïf, Du Bellay, Dorat and Ronsard. The collection also contains pieces by the same authors, as well as by Du Tillet, Scévole de Sainte-Marthe, and an Ode by Ronsard in praise of the Seymour sisters' poetic talent. It ends with a poem by Denisot, printed in capital letters within a double filleted frame, which is often missing. A very fine copy from the libraries of Ch. Nodier, Comte de Fresne and Léon Rattier (bookplates).