Œuvres en rime
First edition by Baïf, eminent member of the Pléiade, close friend of Ronsard, preserved in its contemporary vellum binding.
Octavo, (10) leaves and 272 leaves. Limp vellum with overlapping edges, remnants of ties, calligraphic title on spine, blue edges. Contemporary binding.
174 x 113 mm.
Baïf, Jean Antoine de. Works in Rhyme by Jean Antoine de Baïf, Secretary of the King's Chamber.Paris, Lucas Breyer, 1573.
Original edition of Baïf's Works in Rhyme, a prominent member of the Pléiade and close friend of Ronsard, preserved in its very appealing contemporary limp vellum binding.
Tchémerzine, I, 266; Deschamps Supplement to Brunet's Manual, I, 86; J. P. Barbier, Poetry Library "La Pléiade", p. 291 ff.
“Published both alone and as part of a collection. Contains 57 poems divided into nine books” (Tchémerzine).
After the general dedication to King Charles IX, which retraces Baïf’s vocational journey and highlights the collection’s rich diversity, the nine books of the Poèmes gather the most extensive works.
The section opens with an interesting astronomical treatise dedicated to the queen mother and first published separately in 1567: Le Premier des météores. This is followed by several epistles to personal friends, mythological tales in the style of Ovid, and numerous occasional pieces such as the Dithyrambe in honor of Jodelle or the Epithalamium for François II.
The death of Lazare de Baïf, Jean Antoine’s father, in the autumn of 1547, disrupted the peaceful and studious life of our poet. According to Claude Binet, the orphaned Baïf and his friend Ronsard subsequently became boarders of Dorat at the Collège de Coqueret, where the humanist is said to have been appointed headmaster.
“The young Baïf (fifteen years old) chose to live with his tutor at the Collège de Coqueret, where he very likely taught. Ronsard, for his part, lived from 1548 with his friend Julien Peccate, enjoying the freedom of that youth (23 years old), known to have been rather short of money, while continuing to attend Dorat’s classes, obviously, until 1549 or 1550, according to the poet himself.”
Ronsard chose him among the six best poets of the famous "Brigade" to form the Pléiade, in memory of the seven Alexandrian poets who, in the 3rd century BC, named their group after the constellation.
“Baïf felt called to be a reformer: he wanted to simplify spelling by reducing it to phonetics, and to apply metrical verse, scanned like the Latin hexameter, to French poetry. Seeking a concordance between poetry and music by subjecting both to the same melodic rules, he devised the idea, to ensure the success of his reform, of founding an "academy of music and poetry," both a Conservatory and a French Academy, which was opened in 1570 under the protection of Charles IX, counting among its members Ronsard, Desportes, du Perron, and Gui de Pibrac.”
“King Henry II took such an interest that he had the Academy’s sessions held in his own apartments. The idea of an Antique-style measured song, enhanced by Baïf, would bear fruit not only by perfecting Renaissance polyphonic song with musicians such as Mauduit and Lejeune, but above all by playing a decisive role in the creation of opera.”
“Moreover, one must appreciate the charm of his little scenes freely copied from the Anthology and Alexandrian literature, which he enhances with a picturesque sense of reality. He treats familiar subjects with occasionally fortunate verve and everyday vocabulary, lacking neither color nor life. Let us relish, in Les Passe-temps, the Epistle to Estienne on the hardships of Paris; in the Poems, the Ode to the Nymph of the Bièvre, recalling joyous countryside outings of the Brigade and lamenting the pollution already inflicted on the lovely river by the Gobelin dyers.”
Precious copy, exceptionally large-margined (height 174 mm as opposed to 160 mm for ordinary copies and 168 mm for the de Backer copy),one of the few preserved in its highly attractive contemporary limp vellum binding.
Provenance: manuscript ex-libris on the title page and André Gutzwiller, with ex-libris.
