GILLES (Nicole). Lot n° 12

Les Tres elegantes et copieuses annales des tres chrestiens et excellens moderateurs des belliqueuses Gaules. Paris, René Avril for Galliot du Pré, 1547 [1548 n. st.]. 2 volumes in one folio, fawn morocco, cold-stamped lozenge-rectangle decoration decorated with a frieze of scrolls and a central fleuron, spine decorated with small cold fleurons, smooth edges (Binding of the period). Beautiful and rare illustrated edition, shared between the printer René Avril and the booksellers Jean de Roigny and Galliot du Pré. The illustration consists of large woodcuts representing the author at his desk (two versions), the six days of the Creation, the baptism of Clovis and a bed of justice (repeated), six full-page genealogical tables and numerous portraits of kings in medallions and rectangular vignettes in the text. This ornamentation is completed by a beautiful title frame repeated in the second volume, the galley mark of Galliot du Pré on the last leaf of each volume and numerous engraved lettering. The Annales et chroniques de France, compiled on the Chronicles of Saint-Denis but enriched with original information on the reign of Louis XI, of which Nicole Gilles was the secretary, was first printed in 1525. A very fresh and wide-margined copy bound in cold-stamped morocco. Missing first and last caissons of the spine, corners worn, some light spotting. Renouard, Imprimeurs, I, n°668 - Brunet, II, 1598.