CORNEILLE (Pierre). Theatre. Reveu et corrigé par l'Autheur. - Lot 10

CORNEILLE (Pierre). Theatre. Reveu et corrigé par l'Autheur. Imprimé à Rouen, et se vend à Paris, chez Augustin Courbé et Guillaume de Luyne, 1660. 3 vol. in-8 (165 x 108 mm), maroq. rouge, dos à 5 nerfs, comme. de fil. dor. avec petits fers au pointillé, encadr. de 3 fil. sur les plats, large dent. intér. tr. dor. sur marbr. (Hardy). FIRST COLLECTIVE EDITION IN THIS FORMAT, revised by Corneille, augmented for the first time by a Discourse placed at the head of each volume and Examinations of his plays. It is decorated with 3 frontispieces and 23 engraved figures by Fr. Chauveau, H. David, Mathéus and L. Spirinx. The rarest of the large, partly first editions of Pierre Corneille's Théâtre printed in Paris in 1660, "in his eyes one of the most important"; it was missing from the Dennery collection. A SUPERB COPY. Provenance: - BIBLIOTHEQUE DE COLBERT (handwritten inscription in ink at the top of the title of the 1st vol. Bibliotheca Colbertina"). - Bibliothèque Haviland, Hôtel Drouot sale, April 9 to 12, 1923 - Bibliothèque Robert Hue, for which it bears the bookplate (no. 742 of the sale). Picot, 106.