Jehan DU PRÉ. Le Palais des nobles Dames auql... Lot 50

Jehan DU PRÉ. Le Palais des nobles Dames auql a treze parcelles ou chambres principales: en chascune desquelles sont declarees plusieurs histoires tant grecques hebraicques latines que francoyses. Ensemble fictions & couleurs poeticques cõcernans les Vertus et louãges des Dames. In-8, red morocco, triple fillet, nicely decorated 5-rib spine, lining in the same morocco with fillets, roulettes and spandrels, double endpapers, gilt edges ( Chambolle Duru). Bechtel, 251/D-431 // Brunet, II-899 // Rothschild, IV-2862 // USTC, 29407. (128f.) / a-o8, p6, q10 / 28 lines, goth. car. / 120 x 182 mm. First edition of this poem dedicated to the rehabilitation of women's honor. Little is known about Jehan Du Pré. A gentleman from the Quercy region, he was a man-at-arms under the Grand Ecuyer de Genouillac at the Battle of Pavia, which saw France defeated and Francis I taken prisoner, resulting in the Treaty of Madrid and the loss of a quarter of France. Du Pré was wounded and robbed at Pavia, and as he wrote in a poem to Queen Marguerite de Navarre, he owed his help only to Louise de Savoie, mother of Francis I: So damaging that follows before Pavia Sans son secours ie ne tiendroys pas vie For being destitute and destitute Suiz refreschi of a sum of money In his poem Palais des nobles dames, Jehan Du Pré laments the death of this princess, who died in 1531, indicating that it was written after this date. The author uses the same device as that employed by Gratien Du Pont in his Controverses des sexes masculin et féminin when the latter wanted to denigrate the feminine cause, but for the opposite purpose, as Du Pré writes his work to the glory of women. It was during a dream that he met Noblesse Feminine. She takes him to her palace, where he visits all thirteen rooms and meets a succession of women or goddesses who have distinguished themselves through their science, chastity, fidelity, fertility... The work ends with a poetic piece entitled: Dialogue nõ moīs utile que delectable: Auquel sont introduitz les dieux Jupiter et Cupido disputans de leurs puissances: et par fin ung Antidote et remede pour obvier aux dangiers amoureux, signed by Hugues Salel. Several of the pieces in the first part are followed by the signature Lelas, and some, like Lachèvre, believe that Hugues Salel is the true author of Le Palais des nobles Dames. Palais des nobles Dames. For our part, we prefer the opinion expressed in the Rothschild catalog, which sees Hugues Salel as the printer of Le Palais des nobles Dames. Palais des nobles Dames. Title in red and black, large woodcut on verso depicting female nobility greeting the author in front of her palace, a repeated large woodcut showing the palace garden and 12 small woodcuts depicting famous women. The second part contains a title frame with small juxtaposed woodcuts, a large woodcut depicting Hugues Salel about to be struck with an arrow by Cupid, and a large historiated lettrine. These woodcuts are crudely executed, but of a great and beautiful drawing character (Viollet-Le-Duc). Small rubbing at top of one spine. Leaves a1, a2, q2 to q10 restored and partly reembossed. A very fine copy ruled in red ink in a fine lined binding by Chambolle-Duru. Provenance: Édouard Rahir (II, May 6-8, 1931, no. 496).