HOMER (ca 8th Century BC). Les dix premiers livres de l'Iliade d'Homere, prince des poetes . Translated into French by Hugues Salel. Paris: Iehan Loys for Vincent Sertenas, 1545.
HOMER (ca 8th Century BC). Les dix premiers livres de l'Iliade d'Homere, prince des poetes . Translated into French by Hugues Salel. Paris: Iehan Loys for Vincent Sertenas, 1545. 2 o (276 x 192 mm). Roman type, small italic side-notes, translator's note in verse to the reader and errata on G4r, colophon on verso with Loys's large woodcut device. Title woodcut of Homer as the Fountain of Poetry (143 x 100 mm), ten woodcuts at the head of each book, the first the same size as the title cut, the remainder smaller (approx. 86 mm square) and set within the same four-piece ornamental arabesque border, the upper border containing the French royal arms, the lower a small coat-of-arms (possibly Salel's), fine 8-line criblé initials. (Title with repaired tear in gutter margin, some occasional pale marginal toning.) 17th-century English calf, spine gilt (rubbed). Provenance: John Felton (inscription on title), perhaps the Duke of Buckingham's assassin, who was hanged in 1629. According to DNB , he is known to have owned a library; John Ker, 3rd Duke of Roxburgh (sale 18 May 1812, lot 2384); Baroness de Contantre (1843 gift inscription from M. Norblin on pastedown); acquired from E.P. Goldschmidt, 1969. FIRST EDITION. The Lyonese poet Hugues Salel died in 1553 before finishing his complete translation of the Iliad , the second in French (preceded by J. Samson's translation, printed by Jean Petit in 1530); it was completed by Amadis Jamyn and published in its entirety in 1580. The woodcuts, which harmonize perfectly with their borders and with the open leaded roman text, are clearly influenced by Geoffroy Tory with their lack of shading and outline depiction of the figures, and may be the work of the "Maître à l'F gothique" (Brun's appellation), Mortimer's "F" artist (sometimes identified as the Lyonese printer François Fradin), whose woodcuts illustrate several of Denys Janot's imprints. "The italianate style introduced into the French book by Tory, and continued in volumes from the press of Denys Janot, reaches its height in these illustrations" (Mortimer). RARE, like all early illustrated vernacular editions of the classics. According to American Book Prices Current , only two other complete copies have sold at auction in the last thirty years. Brun, p. 223; Brunet III, 290; Fairfax Murray French 250 ("one of the handsomest books printed at Paris"); Mortimer French 293.
HOMER (ca 8th Century BC). Les dix premiers livres de l'Iliade d'Homere, prince des poetes . Translated into French by Hugues Salel. Paris: Iehan Loys for Vincent Sertenas, 1545.
HOMER (ca 8th Century BC). Les dix premiers livres de l'Iliade d'Homere, prince des poetes . Translated into French by Hugues Salel. Paris: Iehan Loys for Vincent Sertenas, 1545. 2 o (276 x 192 mm). Roman type, small italic side-notes, translator's note in verse to the reader and errata on G4r, colophon on verso with Loys's large woodcut device. Title woodcut of Homer as the Fountain of Poetry (143 x 100 mm), ten woodcuts at the head of each book, the first the same size as the title cut, the remainder smaller (approx. 86 mm square) and set within the same four-piece ornamental arabesque border, the upper border containing the French royal arms, the lower a small coat-of-arms (possibly Salel's), fine 8-line criblé initials. (Title with repaired tear in gutter margin, some occasional pale marginal toning.) 17th-century English calf, spine gilt (rubbed). Provenance: John Felton (inscription on title), perhaps the Duke of Buckingham's assassin, who was hanged in 1629. According to DNB , he is known to have owned a library; John Ker, 3rd Duke of Roxburgh (sale 18 May 1812, lot 2384); Baroness de Contantre (1843 gift inscription from M. Norblin on pastedown); acquired from E.P. Goldschmidt, 1969. FIRST EDITION. The Lyonese poet Hugues Salel died in 1553 before finishing his complete translation of the Iliad , the second in French (preceded by J. Samson's translation, printed by Jean Petit in 1530); it was completed by Amadis Jamyn and published in its entirety in 1580. The woodcuts, which harmonize perfectly with their borders and with the open leaded roman text, are clearly influenced by Geoffroy Tory with their lack of shading and outline depiction of the figures, and may be the work of the "Maître à l'F gothique" (Brun's appellation), Mortimer's "F" artist (sometimes identified as the Lyonese printer François Fradin), whose woodcuts illustrate several of Denys Janot's imprints. "The italianate style introduced into the French book by Tory, and continued in volumes from the press of Denys Janot, reaches its height in these illustrations" (Mortimer). RARE, like all early illustrated vernacular editions of the classics. According to American Book Prices Current , only two other complete copies have sold at auction in the last thirty years. Brun, p. 223; Brunet III, 290; Fairfax Murray French 250 ("one of the handsomest books printed at Paris"); Mortimer French 293.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
