DU CHOUL (Guillaume). Discourse on the Religion of the Ancie

lotto/du choul guillaume discourse on the religion of the ancie lot 43 Z5LpXh8 633150359 / In vendita

lotto/du choul guillaume discourse on the religion of the ancie lot 43 Z5LpXh8 633150359

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lotto/du choul guillaume discourse on the religion of the ancie lot 43 Z5LpXh8 633150359

In venditaRisultati d’asta

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DU CHOUL (Guillaume). Discourse on the Religion of the Ancie - Lot 43

DU CHOUL (Guillaume). Discourse on the Religion of the Ancient Romans, written by the Noble Lord Guillaume du Choul, Counselor to the King and Bailiff of the Mountains of the Dauphiné. Lyon, Guillaume Rouillé, 1556. Folio (342 x 228 mm), contemporary Parisian binding in fawn calfskin; on the covers, within a frame of a brown border surrounded by two gilt fillets, an elaborate decoration composed of interlacing and scrollwork painted in brown wax, gray, or left in reserve against a background dotted with gold; central cartouches in reserve set with fleurons highlighted in gray paint, bearing, on the front cover, the inscription “LOIS DE STE MAURE MARQUISZ DE NESLE,” and on the back, “CONTE DE IOGNY ET DE LAVAL”; plain spine decorated lengthwise with volutes and scrolls painted in brown or left in reserve on a dotted background; decorated edges, gilded and chiseled with highlights of rust-colored paint. First edition. It follows the *Discourse on the Camp Organization and Military Discipline of the Romans*, followed by the *Treatise on Baths* by the same author, which Rouillé had published the previous year. This excellent work, based on the author’s extensive collections of ancient coins and medals—he was a renowned antiquarian from Lyon—as well as on a wealth of documentation, is of particular interest from a numismatic perspective, notably due to its rich iconography. Remarkably illustrated with 47 figures in the text—including five full-page illustrations—and 554 reproductions of medals, all wood-engraved after drawings by Pierre Eskrich, it is also one of the finest illustrated books from Lyon of that period. A superb and valuable copy, on large, lined paper, bound in a magnificent, decorated binding of the period commissioned for the bibliophile Louis de Sainte Maure, with a famous and exceedingly rare provenance. The second son of François de Sainte Maure, Count of Nesle, Louis de Sainte Maure (1515–1572), Count of Joigny, first Marquis of Nesle in 1545, became Count of Laval in 1547, having married two years earlier Guyonne de Laval, niece and heiress of the late Count Guy XVII. In 1559, he was designated, along with Gaston de Foix and Antoine du Prat, to serve as a hostage at the English court in accordance with one of the clauses of the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis. He regained his freedom in 1562. Only eight decorated bookbindings for this most refined bibliophile have been documented, all produced within a short period of time. Four of them are the work of the Parisian workshop of the Cupid’s Bow Binder, one of the finest of the era, whose clientele included Jean Grolier and Marx Lauweryn. Dating from 1550–55, they cover three collections of Cicero’s works printed, notably by Vascosan, in the 1540s, and a Pliny from Basel, 1545. The fifth, executed shortly thereafter on a text by Paolo Giovio, is the work of the bookbinder known for his medallions of Henry II. A sixth binding, covering a Polybius from 1558, has recently been rediscovered and has not yet been described. The binding of our Du Choul, as well as that of the *Justin* in the Wittock and Brooker libraries, likely date from after Sainte Maure’s stay in England and can be dated to the very early 1560s. Featuring decorations that are very similar in both inspiration and execution, they are the work of the same workshop—as yet unidentified but of the very highest order— certainly similar to the workshops that worked for the Fontainebleau Library between 1550 and 1560 (see *Royal Bindings of the Renaissance*, by M.-P. Laffitte and F. Le Bars). “The design and execution of these extremely luxurious bindings required perfect mastery of the pencil, the knife, and the brush. The interlaced arabesques are rendered in three dimensions according to a perfectly balanced composition; the openwork backgrounds are used to highlight the interlacing, which is shaded, enhanced with paint, or left unpainted. Only a very small handful of bookbinders were capable of such mastery” (Michel Wittock Collection. Part Three. French Renaissance Bookbindings. Christie’s, October 7, 2005, lot 28. Justin) In describing the binding of the Justin, the Wittock Collection catalog (A Life, a Collection. Bibliotheca Wittochkiana, Dijon, 2008)—which was unaware of our copy—described it as “undoubtedly the most luxurious of the five (sic) that belonged to Sainte Maure.” Of these eight bindings, at most only two, aside from ours, remain in private hands today: 1. A quarto-sized (225 x 155 mm) collection of six works by Cicero printed between 1539 and 1543 by Michel de Vascosan, Josse Bade, and Simon de Colines, bound by the Cupid’s Bow Binder. Provenance: Guyot de Villeneuve, Edmée Maus, Michel Wittock (Christie’s, July 7, 2004, lot 39, sold for £41,825—approximately €62,000). 2. Saint Justin. The Works. Second edition

Stima:€35,000

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