A este acheve de imprimer le xxè iour de septembre mil cinq cens et vingt pour Gilles Couteau imprimeur à Paris (1520).
4to gothic of (104) ll. Jansenist red morocco, spine with fleurs-de-lys, inner gilt border, gilt over marbled edges. Trautz-Bauzonnet.
188 x 129 mm.
First edition.
“Very rare” (Fairfax Murray, no. 312).
“Pasquier Lemoyne signed his works “le Moyne sans froc” or “le Riche en povreté“, but was actually the king’s ordinary porter. He followed François I to Italy and was present at the battle of Marignan” (Bechtel).
« The author ‘le Moyne sans froc’ names himself on sig. k4 : ‘Je pasquier le moyne lors portier ordinaire du tresnoble… François premier’. The work, up to that leaf, consists of mingled verse and prose, and after that, of prose only, the whole describing as the title indicates, the principal achievement of Francois Ier, namely, the Expedition to Italy, the battle of Marignano, the Entry into Milan, &c. The date of the latter event is given as the 23rd of October: see also N°149, Entrée, where the date is the 16th of that month. On sig. n2 is given the names of some of the principals in the army, with the number of men under their command. The date of the privilege on reverse of title is 3 Aug., 1519: signed R. Guiot.
On title-page is the beautiful device of the printer, consisting of a tree supporting a shield bearing the initial G and a *: on the other side, two smaller knives each with initial – A and N with a crescent: interspersed with flowers, evidently intended for piks (œillet) : embraced by a scroll ‘Du grant aux petis’ : the whole being an elaborate play on the name Gilles Couteau, which is below. The two smaller couteaux evidently refer to Gilles Coutau’s sons, the well-known printers, Anthoine and Nicolas, who continued the business up to at least 1543.
As is well-known, Couteau the elder printed several books for Verard, and may have done so for his successor J. de la Garde, the type of the present book apparently being the same as in N° 84, Champier, bearing the latter’s name ». (Fairfax Murray)
Printed in Gothic type with 30 long lines adorned with engraved initials and a large printer’s mark on the title.
The work includes an epistle by R. Guiot to the provost of Paris “or his lieutenant”, a long dialogue in verses between a passer-by and the author, and a description of the coronation.
Precious copy from the libraries of J.J. de Bure l’aîné (signed handwritten mention “collationné complet le 30 septembre 1833“); Beverly Chew (engraved armorial ex libris); Fairfax-Murray (n°312) and Georges Abrams.
This volume was catalogued and sold for 95,000 FF (€14,500) on May 11, 1991 by Librairie P. Sourget.
