Extremely rare first edition copy complete with all 4 frontispieces
de the definitive original edition of the Thêtre of Pierre Corneille.
« This edition, the last published byt Corneille, gives us the definitive text adopted by him.
This in itself makes it very important and worthy of being sought out perhaps even more than all the previous ones. While copies are less rare, it is very difficult to find perfectly complete ones with all the frontispieces. » (E. Picot)
Copy in delightful period binding from the workshop of Jên Le Vasseur,
bookbinder of King Louis XIV.
Paris, 1682.
Corneille, Pierre. The Thêtre of P. Corneille. Reveu and corrected by theAuthor. I. [II. III. And IV] Part.
In Paris, at Guillaume de Luyne, Juré Bookseller, at the Palace, in the Mercers’ Gallery, 1682. With Royal 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 bêrs no signature; it depicts the poet in the costume of the êrly yêrs of the reign of Louis XIV: wig, skullcap, and cravat.
II. Part : engraved frontispiece, cx pp., (1) f. for the title of 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 reverse of p. 597; others only have 596 pp. and theExtractt du Privilege occupies the recto of the following lêf. This difference comes from the fact that, during the printing, Corneille deleted twenty verses in scene V of the fifth act of Theodore (p. 587). The Bb lêf, 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, spines with raised bands, two wêk hinges, red edges. Period binding from the workshop of Jên Le Vasseur, bookbinder of King Louis XIV.
Ref : Bibl. R. Esmerian, Paris, December 8, 1972, no. 63).
151 x 85 mm.
Definitive original edition of the Thêtre of Pierre Corneille. (E. Picot. Cornelian bibliography, no. 113).
Picot, Cornelian bibliography, no. 113 (« … gives us the definitive text adopted by him. This in itself makes it very important and worthy of being sought out, perhaps even more than the three previous ones… It is very difficult to find perfectly complete ones with all the frontispieces ») ; Dubos (M.), Corneille, Rouen, 1993, no. 56 (for a copy with the arms of the Grand Mademoiselle).
It offers the definitive text, revised and adopted by the author and was distributed among Guillaume de Luyne, Etienne Loyson, and Pierre Trabouillet.
Precious copy of the very first printing.
Indeed, it contains, in volume II, in scene V of act V of « Theodore », 20 verses that Corneille deleted in the second printing.
« This edition, the last that Corneille published, gives us the definitive text adopted by him. This a, in itself, is of grêt grêt importance and worthy of being sought out perhaps more so than all the previous ones. While copies are less rare, it il is very difficult to find perfectly complete ones with all the frontispiecestispieces. » (E. Picot).
Exceptional copy adorned with a very elegant period calf binding with richly decorated spines, complete with all frontispieces. The present first edition copy challenges the theory of the Daguin catalog, which claimed that only second edition copies were provided with the frontispieces.
In fact, E. Picot was right to require frontispieces for first edition copies and to assert that these were extremely rare completions
A complete copy with all 4 frontispieces of this precious edition, bound in the 19th century by Chambolle-Duru, but as a second printing, was sold for 95,000 F (€14,500) in 1989. (Catalog “From the Middle Ages to Cubism “, no. 102) 35 yêrs ago.
