Extremely rare first complete edition of the 4 frontispieces
of the definitive original edition of the Théâtre by Pierre Corneille.
“This edition, the last published by Corneille, gives us the definitive text adopted by him.
It has, for that reason alone, great importance and deserves to be sought after perhaps even more than all the previous ones. The copies are less rare, but it is very difficult to find them well complete with all the frontispieces.” (E. Picot)
Copy in charming period binding from the workshop of Jean Le Vasseur,
bookbinder to King Louis XIV.
Paris, 1682.
Corneille, Pierre. Le Théâtre de P. Corneille. Revised and corrected by the Author. I. [II. III. Et IV] Part.
In Paris, at Guillaume de Luyne, Sworn Bookseller, at the Palais, in the Mercers’ Gallery, 1682. With the King’s Privilege.
I. Part : engraved frontispiece, portrait of Corneille, xcviij pp. (including the title), (1) f. for the title of Mélite, 586 pp. and (1) f. for the Privilege. The portrait of Corneille bears no signature; it represents the poet in the costume of the early years of Louis XIV’s reign: wig, cap, and collar.
II. Part : engraved frontispiece, cx pp., (1) f. for the title of the Cid, 597 pp., (1) p. for the Privilege.
There are two types of copies of this II Part; some count 597 pp. and contain an Excerpt from the Privilege on the verso of p. 597; the others have only 596 pp. and the Excerpt from the Privilege occupies the recto of the following leaf. This difference is because, during printing, Corneille removed twenty verses in scene V of the fifth act of Theodore (p. 587). The Bb leaf, the last of the volume, thus underwent a complete reworking.
III. Part: engraved frontispiece, lxxxiv pp., (1) f. for the title of Rodogune, 618 pp. and (1) f. for the Privilege.
IV. Part : engraved frontispiece, xxij pp., (1) f. for the title of Sertorius, 591 pp., (1) p. for the Privilege.
4 in-12 bound in tawny calf, spine with raised bands and decorated, two weak joints, red edges. Binding of the period from the Workshop of Jean Le Vasseur, bookbinder to King Louis XIV.
Ref: Bibl. R. Esmérian, Paris, 8 December 1972, no. 63).
151 x 85 mm.
Definitive original edition of the Théâtre by Pierre Corneille. (E. Picot. Bibliographie cornélienne, no. 113).
Picot, Bibliographie cornélienne, no. 113 (“… gives us the definitive text adopted by him. For that reason alone, it has great importance and deserves to be sought after, perhaps even more than the previous three… It is very difficult to find them well complete with all the frontispieces”; Dubos (M.), Corneille, Rouen, 1993, no. 56 (for a copy with the arms of Grande Mademoiselle).
It offers the definitive text, reviewed and adopted by the author and was shared between Guillaume de Luyne, Etienne Loyson, and Pierre Trabouillet.
Precious copy of the very first printing.
It indeed contains, in volume II, in scene V of Act V of “Theodore”, 20 verses that Corneille removed in the second printing.
“This edition, the last published by Corneille, gives us the definitive text adopted by him. It has, for that reason alone, great importance and deserves to be sought after perhaps more so than all the previous ones. The copies are less rare, but it is very difficult to find them well complete with all the frontispieces.” (E. Picot).
Exceptional copy in a very elegant tawny calf of the period with richly decorated spines complete with all the frontispieces. This first printing copy challenges the Daguin catalog’s theory that only second printing copies were provided with the frontispieces.
In fact, E. Picot was right to require the frontispieces for first printing copies and claim that these were very rare when complete
A complete copy of the 4 frontispieces of this precious edition, bound in the 19th century by Chambolle-Duru, but of the second printing, was sold for 95,000 F (14,500 €) in 1989. (Catalog “From the Middle Ages to Cubism”, no. 102) 35 years ago.
