Paris, Nicolas Bonfons, 1586.
[Followed by]: -Les Antiquitez et singularitez de Paris. Livre second. De la Sepulture des Roys, & des Roynes de France, Princes, Princesses & autres persones illustres : Representez par figures ainsi qu’ils se voyent encores a preset es Eglises où ils sont inhumez. Recueillis par Jean Rabel, M. paintre.
Paris, Nicolas Bonfons, 1588.
2 parts bound in 1 volume 8vo [167 x 103 mm] of: I/ (16) ll., 212; II/ (4) ll. including the title decorated with the arms of Paris, 121 ll. wrongly numbered 119, (3), and 56 full-page engravings. Handwritten ex libris on the title, some slight browning. Bound in contemporary full overlapping vellum, flat spine with handwritten title. Contemporary binding.
« The most sought-after edition of this book » (Morgand), widely enlarged. Indeed it comprises the first edition of the second part. Ruggieri 19; Catalogue Rothschild, 2304; Catalogue Pichon 1008; Bulletin Morgand et Fatout 228 et 10977; Brunet, II, 307; Harvard, French, I, 156.
« Sought-after edition for the second part: Les Sépultures … collected by Jean Rabel, peintre, containing 55 peculiar wood engravings » (Ruggieri)
« The 1586 edition mentions various facts from the years 1581-1585; it ends, like the previous ones, with the list of bishops, the list of magistrates and officers of the military police, of the chatelet and of the seat of local government; with a table of temporal jurisdictions and prisons; by the Names of streets, churches, chapels and colleges of the city and university of Paris; and finally, with the list of the Principal Houses of Great Nobles, the list of city gates, bridges, fountains, and faubourgs. » (Rothschild).
“The 1561 edition is the best and the most complete of all the editions published by Corrozet, however, the one from 1586, with the supplement by Rabel, is highly preferable.” (Biographie générale, 11, 932)
The present edition is decorated with 56 full-page figures finely engraved by Rabel which appear here for the first time.
« The second book that we have here in first edition contains 56 drawings of monuments and graves finely engraved by Rabel. Among those figures, one represents a grave belonging to the abbey of Sainte-Geneviève; seven are related to Saint-Germain des Prés; thirty three represent monuments of the abbey of Saint-Denis; five, the graves of the princes of Orléans at the monastery of the Celestines in Paris; four, graves erected in the church of the Jacobins; one, the monument of Christophe de Thou in Saint-André des Arts, … The tombs have Latin and French epitaphs. Thirteen of the last ones are borrowed from Ronsard. Five others are signed which are: one of Jodelle, one of Desportes, one of Jean Dorat, one of Du Bartas, and one of Cl. Binet. » (Rothschild)
« The second part decorated with many plates is often missing. » (Bulletin Morgand)
« First appearance of the second book, with the Rabel illustrations. » (Harvard)
An attractive copy of this work dedicated to Paris antiquities, preserved in its contemporary binding in overlapping vellum.
Provenance: ex libris on the first paste-down.
