Jean-Antoine de BAÏF. Mimes, teachings and proverbs... In-12,... Lot 61

Jean-Antoine de BAÏF. Mimes, teachings and proverbs... In-12, red morocco, triple fillet, 5-nerved spine decorated in the same style, interior gilt roulette, gilt edges ( Niedrée). Brunet, I-612 // Tchemerzine-Scheler, I-296. (8 f.)-108 f.-(1 f.)-56 f. / ã6, a-i12, *4 (the 4th missing here), A-D12, E8 / 66 x 131 mm. Third edition, partly original. The Mimes, enseignemens et proverbes were first published by Lucas Breyer in 1576, and contained only the first book. In 1581, the same publisher published a second edition with the addition of a second book. It was only with this third edition, published posthumously sixteen years later by Mamert Patisson, that the text of the Mimes was finally completed, with the addition of the third and fourth books in the original. It is illustrated with two woodcut portraits, one of which is often missing, as is the case here (f. *4). The Mimes, Baïf's most remarkable work by Baïf, according to Viollet-Le-Duc, are fables and proverbs forming a rule of conduct for all states of life. According to Jules Le Petit (p.90), they are ingenious and often profound thoughts, with an original turn of phrase, without pedantry... A fine copy bound in the first half of the 19th century, with old underlining in ink and pencil. The two leaves Au lecteur have been bound at the head. Lacks the second portrait of Baïf, absent from most copies. Spine a little faded. Top margin of title redone without affecting text, small hole in text of folio B4, hole restored without affecting folios E7 and E8. Provenance: Gerbinot (? old handwritten bookplate on title), Château de Rosny (label, La Solitude, no. 3309) and Alfred Lindeboom (bookplate). 1000