Les anciennes et modernes généalogies des Roys de France

4°, gothic, of (14) ll. and 130 ll., red morocco, compartment of blinstamped fillet, gilt fleurons on covers, central gilt feuron at center, ribbed spine, inner gilt dentelle, gilt edges. (Capé).

191 x 137 mm.

Very rare third edition illustrated with 57 portraits of the kings of France until Louis XII.

It’s so rare that Tchémerzine mentions : « The title is missing from the copies we know of » and Guy Bechtel doesn’t describe any copy in private hands, only mentioning those in B.N.F. and B.M.

Jean Bouchet's book, dedicated to Chancellor Duprat and the Dauphin François, eldest son of François I, is adorned not only with the first woodcut of Francus and Aeneas fleeing Troy in flames, but also with 57 portraits of the kings of France in attractive frames bearing the motto “Deum time.”

These effigies were said to reproduce the features of the statues in the great hall of the Palace of Paris.

« The work includes a long introduction on the origins of the kings of France, followed by prose notes and sonnets dedicated to each king of France from Pharamond to Louis XII. Jehan Bouchet collected the legends that circulated in the Middle Ages about the migrations of the Trojans and the empires founded by the descendants of Priam and Hector. The original edition of Généalogies was published in Poitiers in January 1528; it was decorated with 57 portraits of the kings of France ». (Cat. James de Rothschild).

Jean Bouchet, a poet and historian (Poitiers, January 31st, 1476 - between 1557 and 1559), belongs to the school of great rhetoricians. He entered the service of the House of La Tremoille and was acquainted with a number of scholars, including Ronsard's father, Rabelais, and Jean d'Auton. His historical work, such as that presented here, carries more weight than his poetic work, although Rabelais praised his knowledge and beautiful language, namely his gentleness and discipline. Bouchet praised the French language and those who cultivated it. But Du Bellay took him to task and wished that “these Traverseurs be sent back to the Round Table”; and Quintil Horatien replied: “The Traverser Bouchet, for his time, was praised and is still considered a chaste and Christian writer, not lascivious and paganizing like those of today, and he has done and pursued great and continuous works, not small trinkets.”

Modern critics consider Jean Bouchet to be the creator of the first sonnets in French literature. Jean-Paul Barbier writes: "For a long time, Mellin de Saint-Gelais was credited with having composed the first French sonnet. Then modern critics corrected this judgment and attributed the credit to Clément Marot, who wrote his Sonnet à Madame de Ferrare in 1536.

Very recently, M. C. A. Mayer devoted a scholarly study to this question (Le premier sonnet français: Marot, Saint-Gelais et Jean Bouchet, Revue d'Histoire Littéraire, July-September 1967, no. 3, pp. 481-493). Elsewhere, in his recent work on Clément Marot (Paris Nizet 1972), Mr. Mayer says this: "There is a group of poems entitled ‘Épigrammes’, published in 1538 by Jean Bouchet under the title ‘Le Jugement poétic de l'Honneur féminin’ (The Poetic Judgment of Female Honor)... which were composed before 1536 and are therefore the first sonnets in French literature...»

Undoubtedly the finest copy listed in private hands, complete with its title, originating from the libraries of Coppinger ; Félix Solar ; L. Pottier ; E. Odiot (ex-libris) ; Baron Double (exlibris) ; Génard (ex-libris) ; F. Soleil ; Maxime Le Bègue de Germigny, 1845-1945 (ex-libris ; sale May 5^th, 1939, lot 29) ; Georges Andrieux ; M. Burrus with his ex-libris.