Lot n° 323
Estimation :
250 - 300
EUR
François De malherbe, Les Epistres de Sénèque, translated by - Lot 323
François De malherbe, Les Epistres de Sénèque, translated by M. François de Malherbe, Gentil-homme ordinaire de la Chambre du Roy. Paris, Antoine de Sommaville, 1637. In-4 of (12)-578 pp., frontispiece, vellum, manuscript title on the spine (contemporary binding). Original posthumous edition. Translation of the Epistles of Seneca by François de Malherbe (1555-1628) who the first in the seventeenth century aimed at the elegance, delicacy and gallantry of the Latin versions replacing the style of the original, the "beautiful French" of his time: "it replaces the short and juxtaposed sentences of Seneca by a numerous and periodical style" (Grente). From the Stoic, Malherbe translated the Natural Benefits and Questions. Portrait engraved by Briot in frontispiece, title vignette with the royal coat of arms. Handwritten ex-libris in ink of the time "Aubeterre" at the bottom of the dedication to the Cardinal Duke of Richelieu; Aubeterre (today Aubeterre-sur-Dronne) between Saintonge, Périgord and Angoumois was erected as a marquisate by Viscount François d'Esparbès de Lussan (1571-1628). Large and pale corner moulding between the GGg book and the lower cover of the binding, small marginal wormholes, slightly scorched leaves. Tchemerzine IV, 348, b.
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