AUDEBERT (Germain).

Ad Sereniss. Ac. Sapientiss. Venetiarum principem Nicolaum Deponte... Venice, Aldus Manutius the Younger, 1583. In-4, fawn calf, ornate spine, green title page, small inner gilt roulette, gilt edges (Padeloup le jeune). First edition of this poem about Venice. Germain Audebert (1518-1598), who had known Théodore de Bèze during his youth in Orléans, spent a long time in Italy, where he studied hard, notably under André Alciat in Bologna. As his son Nicolas set off to follow in his footsteps in the peninsula, the poet gathered his memories and set about singing of the wonders he had seen in Venice, Rome and Naples. His first poem was dedicated to Venice. The Venetians, touched by the tribute paid to them, conferred the title of knight on the author the same day, gave him a gold chain worth 200 écus and a medal from Saint-Marc, and ordered that the poem be printed at their expense (cf. Picot, Rothschild, IV, p. 92). The poem is followed by 17 verse pieces composed by the author and his son, Louis Aleaume, the physician Raymond Massac, the Lyonnais poet André Derossant and a certain J. Stuart, a jurisconsult from Orléans. Woodcut medallion portrait of Aldus Manutius on the title. A handsome copy in a binding by Padeloup, signed with his label at the address Place Sorbonne, Paris. Some light foxing. The title, short at the foot, was adjusted to the dimensions of the other leaves at the time of binding and bears, on the added paper strip, the binder's printed label. The Aldine Press, n°955. - Renouard, Alde, p. 233. - Diane Barbier-Mueller, Inventaire..., n°18.