MOLINET (Jean). The Deeds and Sayings of the Late, Well-Reme - Lot 32

MOLINET (Jean). The Deeds and Sayings of the Late, Well-Remembered Master Jehan Molinet, Containing Several Fine Treatises, Orations, and Royal Battles… Newly Printed in Paris in the Year 1531, on the ninth day of December. Paris, Jehan Longis and the Widow of Jehan Sainct Denys, 1531. Small folio, 18th-century green morocco binding, three gilt bands on the covers, gilt edges. First edition. This anthology of Jean Molinet’s poetry interspersed with prose was published three times—in 1531, 1537, and 1540—long after the author’s death; all editions were printed in Gothic type. While the latter two editions are fairly common, this first edition—the only one in folio format—is much rarer. Famous in his day and the successful author of a prose adaptation of *The Romance of the Rose*, Jean Molinet (1435–1507) is generally considered the most important of the Great Rhetoricians. A native of Desvre in the Boulonnais region, he entered the service of the House of Burgundy in the early 1470s, during the reign of Charles the Bold, and succeeded Georges Chastellain in 1575 as historiographer to the Dukes of Burgundy. A true master of the Burgundian school of poetry, he was the one who trained his nephew Jean Lemaire de Belges. Passionate about the technical aspects of his art—like all the court poets grouped under the name “Great Rhetoricians”— he was undoubtedly the one who pushed the pursuit of virtuosity the farthest, multiplying the challenges, moving from the unison ballad to the twin or double rondeau, to the “batelée” rhyme, the chained rhyme, or the double-tailed rhyme… But beyond these feats of skill, Molinet demonstrated genuine sensitivity in his finest verses. Faced with the unrest that followed the disaster at Nancy, he found poignant tones to depict the lands ravaged by the armies of Louis XI. In *Recollection des merveilleuses histoires advenues en nostre temps*, he recounts in 140 octaves the events that occurred from 1428 to 1498. The first stanzas are devoted to the death of Joan of Arc, and the poem concludes with the death of Charles VIII. Mark of Jehan Sainct Denys on the title page. A very fine copy in 18th-century morocco leather. Restoration along the outer margin of the title page. Spine uniformly burnished. Very slight, faint water stain along the lower margin of the last ten leaves. From the library of Michael Wodhull (1740–1816), with the date of acquisition written in his own hand: July 17, 1773. Date: April 1797, in brown ink on the front of the last blank leaf.

Estimation:€5,000

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