[CHAPBOOKS - FRENCH].
Histoire de la belle Heleine de Constantinople, mère de St. Martin de Tours en Touraine, & de St. Brice, son frère.
Troyes, Pierre Garnier, [ca. 1738].
With:
(2) [FORTUNATUS]. Histoire des avantures heureuses et malheureuses de Fortunatus, avec sa bourse et son chapeau. Enseignant comme un jeune homme se doit gouverner.
Troyes, chez Jean Garnier, [ca. 1760].
(3) [JEAN DE PARIS]. Histoire de Jean de Paris, Roi de France.
Troyes, la veuve Garnier & Fils, [ca. 1740].
(4) [JEAN DE CALAIS]. Histoire de Jean de Calais.
Troyes, la veuve Garnier & Fils, [ca. 1760].
(5) [ROBERT LE DIABLE]. La terrible et merveilleuse vie de Robert le Diable, lequel après fut homme de bien.
Troyes, la veuve Garnier, [ca. 1740].
(6) [RICHARD SANS PEUR]. Histoire de Richard sans Peur, Duc de Normandie, fils de Robert Le Diable, Qui par sa prudence fut Roi d'Angleterre, & fit de grandes conquêtes & vaillances.
Troyes, la veuve Garnier, [ca. 1740].
(7) GARGANTUAS, La vie du fameux Gargantuas, le plus terrible geant qui ait jamais paru sur la terre. Traduction nouvelle dressée sur un ancien manuscrit qui s'est trouvé dans la Bibliothèque du Grand Mogol.
Troyes, la veuve Jacques Oudot, 1715.
(8) [TIJL UILENSPIEGEL]. La vie joyeuse et recreative de Tiel Ulespiegle, de ses faits merveilleux & fortunes qu'il a eues lequel par aucune ruse ne se laissa pas tromper.
Troyes, la veuve Garnier, [ca. 1765].
8 works in 1 volume. 8vo. 19th-century half dark blue morocco, decorated paper sides, gold-tooled spine with "Bibliothèque bleu" lettered in gold, marbled edges, marbled endpapers, bound by Vanette in Paris. 95, [1]; [1], [1 blank], [6], 154, [5], [1 blank]; 47, [1]; 46, [1], [1 blank]; 46, [1], [1 blank]; 46, [1], [1 blank]; 48; 46, [2 blank] pp.
€ 6,500
Fine collection of 8 French chapbook editions, all "Bibliothèque bleue" printed in Troyes, and all but one (ad 7) published by members of the printer-family Garnier. Although these popular works, mostly dating from the Middle Ages, were many times republished - up till the present time - only a few copies survive, making each work in this collection rare. The present copy belonged to the 19th-century architect Viollet Leduc, the restorator of the Notre Dame Church at Paris.
Ad 1: Adventurous story about a king in Constantinople who, after the death of his wife, wants to marry his own daughter, Hélène. She runs away and marries the king of England, after which she goes through many adventures.
Ad 2: One of the best chapbooks of German origin, here in a French edition. Fortunatus and his children own an inexhaustible purse which makes all their dreams come true, but ultimately leads them to their destruction.
Ad 3: The oldest original French comic and facetious romance. The first edition appeared ca. 1530-1540. The story is not based on history, but on pure folklore, and is full of comical events and French "esprit". The father of the protagonist, Jean de Paris, had been called upon to help the Spanish king against his rebellious barons and was promised the king's daughter in marriage, although she was then only three years old.
Ad 4: Nisard ascribes the present work to Mme de Gomez, Madeleine-Angélique Poisson, daughter of the comedy player Paul Poisson, and wife of Don Gabriel de Gomez, a Spaniard.
Ad 5: Famous French novel about chivalry, dating from the 13th century, but first published in Lyon, 1496.
Ad 6: Another famous French novel, a continuation of the adventures of Robert le Diable, also dating from the 13th century, and first published in Lyon, 1497. Here the hero is Robert le Diable's son, Richard sans Peur.
Ad 7: All popular editions of Gargantua, including the present, go back to a printed edition of 1528, preceding Rabelais' edition of 1535 and actually forming the basis of his famous Gargantua.
Ad 8: Famous picaresque novel, originating from Germany and the Low Countries, but with important Flemish, French, and English traditions.
With a small purple binder's ticket and the white ex libris book plate of Viollet Leduc on the front paste-down. The spine and the edges of the boards are slightly scuffed, pp. 21-22 shows a large tear in the bottom margin, slightly browned throughout. Ad 8: Koopmans-Verhuyck 52; none of these editions in Oberlé, La Bibliothèque Bleue: cf. 86; 275; 109; 103; 92; 105; 264; 269-271; cf. Nisard II, p. 459; 435; 450; 485; 495; I, 535; 544.
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