Beschreibung:

HOMER. Les dix premiers livres de l'Iliade d'Homere, prince des poetes: Traduictz en vers François, par M. Hugues Salel. Paris: (Iehan Loys for) Vincent Sertenas, 1545. Folio, 294 x 195 mm. (11 9/16 x 7 11/16 in.) , PARISIAN PAINTED BINDING OF C. 1550-55, dark olive goatskin over pasteboard, covers with double gilt fillet borders enclosing gilt-tooled interlacing strapwork painted black and large central arabesque design painted white, the design composed entirely of straight lines and gouge-work with no figured tools, smooth spine with repeated pattern of interlacing gilt strapwork and a small gilt floral tool, board edges gilt with straight lines and tiny leaf tools, fifteenth-century manuscript linings, gilt edges (a few deckle edges), acidic black paint oxidized, some rubbing, especially to extremities, modern dark olive morocco felt-lined chemise and matching slipcase; occasional light mostly marginal foxing, small marginal tear to v3, a trace of dampstaining to lower margins of 2 or 3 leaves, fols. n4 and 5 slightly wrinkled . FIRST EDITION of Salel's translation, ruled in red throughout, 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. A FRESH, UNRESTORED COPY IN ITS ORIGINAL BINDING, OF ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BOOKS OF THE FRENCH RENAISSANCE. The Lyonese poet Hugues Salel died in 1553 before finishing his translation of the Iliad, the second in French (preceded by J. Samxon'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 Geoffrey 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 (see also lot --). "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). The atelier responsible for the binding of this copy has not been identified: the small tool used on the spine resembles but is not identical to Nixon's tool no. 16 (Nixon Grolier , pl. 2), attributed to the so-called Fleur de lis binder, who bound a number of books for Jean Grolier in the 1530s. The finishing work is fairly rough and uneven in quality. RARE, like all early illustrated vernacular editions of the classics. The present copy was one of two in Edouard Rahir's library (lot 557 in his sale, part 2, 1931, FF42,000 [CHECK] to Besomber). The second, bound in contemporary vellum, is now at Harvard (lot 558 in the same sale, FF40,000 to Maggs). NUC lists no other copies in America. Brun, p. 223; Brunet III, 290; Fairfax Murray French 250 ("one of the handsomest books printed at Paris"); Harvard/Mortimer 293. Provenance : Edouard Rahir, bookplate (sale, as above).