LA GESSÉE (Jean de). - Les Premières œuvres françoyses. Premier volume. Anvers, De l'Imprimerie de Christofle Plantin, 1583. 4 volumes in 3 volumes in-4, havana morocco, Du Seuil decoration framing the boards, ornate spine, interior lace, gilt edges (Binding of the second half of the 19th century).
First and only extremely rare collective edition of the works of Protestant poet Jean de La Gessée. It was missing from the rich poetic collections of Nodier, Viollet-le-Duc and Herpin.
According to J. P. Barbier-Mueller's meticulous count, this gigantic collection of over 1,500 pages comprises a total of 1,841 pieces, most of them previously unpublished. It is divided into four parts, grouped under the titles Jeunesses, Meslanges, Amours and Discours poétiques. The first is a collection of long poems, many of which evoke writers and poets of the period (such as Postel, Du Bartas, Pierre de Brach, Robert Garnier, Baïf, Ronsard, Belleau or Jean Dorat) or are dedicated to great personalities such as the King of Navarre, Henri III, Queen Elisabeth, the Duc de Joyeuse and others.
The title is printed in a large woodcut architectural frame. A fine portrait of the author at the age of 31, finely engraved on copper by Jean Wierix, adorns the work: it was reused in the 17th century as a portrait of Ronsard and reproduced as such to this day (J. P. Barbier-Mueller).
Along with Houwaert's Pegasides pleyn (1582), this is the finest collection of poems printed by Plantin (cf. Anvers, ville de Plantin et de Rubens, cat. Bibliothèque nationale, 1954, no. 284).
Jean de La Gessée (whose name is sometimes spelt La Jessée) was secretary to François, Duke of Anjou and Alençon, and had accompanied his master to the Netherlands in the early 1580s, where the latter had been called to become the new sovereign. It was there, in Antwerp, on the presses of Plantin-Moretus that he had his works printed, no doubt thanks to the prince's protection.
The mention Premier volume on the title page suggests that a sequel was planned, but it never saw the light of day; after the failure of his reign, Prince François and the French were expelled from the country, and Jean de La Gessée was unable to continue his publishing venture: It is even probable that the people of Antwerp, in their resentment against the French prince and the gentlemen who had surrounded him, destroyed most of the copies of volume one that had remained in the Plantin warehouse, which would explain their great rarity (Picot).
The Rothschild copy contained a leaf printed in civil type, inserted after the title, which is not found here, nor in the copy in the Hector de Backer library (cf. cat. I, 1926, no. 380).
A superb copy, perfectly established in the 19th century.
The 15 leaves of table and privilege at the end of the fourth part are here in facsimile in a separate third volume bound identically to the other two. The absence of these leaves, noted after the acquisition of the copy at a sale in Troyes in 2000, hardly prevented J. P. Barbier-Mueller from fully enjoying his new poetic-bibliophilic treasure: [...] I considered my acquisition in a less gloomy light. I now owned all the poems contained in this enormous publication. The book was incredibly rare, and no doubt a bookseller would have charged me a huge price, even with a defect that I had to accept for the pleasure of reading "all of La Gessée". There are particular cases where one must accept a Venus de Milo without arms, or a Victory of Samothrace without a head. So my joy today is (almost) unmixed!
The facsimile was made from the BnF copy, at the request of the collector who wrote this autograph note in pencil on the colophon of the new volume: "The extreme rarity of the book led me to consider that the text alone counted... I could never have owned it in its entirety, and the tables are not "text".
The second volume, containing volumes III and IV, has been settled.
J. P. Barbier-Mueller, IV-3, n°2. - N. Ducimetière, Mignonne..., n°77. - Picot, Rothschild, n°750. - Diane Barbier-Mueller, Inventaire..., n°418.
Estim. 1,500 - 2,000 EUR
