Cinna

In-4 of (8) ff., including frontispiece, 110 pp., (1) blank f.

Flexible ivory vellum. Period binding.

224 x 165 mm.

Corneille, Pierre. Cinna, or the Clemency of Augustus. Tragedy.

Printed in Rouen at the author's expense [by Laurens Maurry], & sold in Paris by Toussainct Quinet, 1643.

Rare first edition of this masterpiece by Corneille, long considered his greatest play.

Tchémerzine, II, 544; Picot. Bibliographie cornélienne, no. 20, pp. 25 to 28; Le Petit, 154-156; Rothschild Catalogue, II, no.1145.

It is adorned with a beautiful engraved frontispiece dated 1643, depicting the conspirators imploring Augustus' clemency.

The privilege, dated August 1^st, 1642, is granted for 20 years to Pierre Corneille, who states that he transfers it to Quinet. The colophon is dated January 18, 1643.

For the first time, the privilege was not granted to a printer-bookseller, but to an author
- in this case "to our beloved & loyal Pierre Corneille".

Thus, beginning with Cinna, Corneille had his works printed at his own expense by Laurens Maurry.
Accepted as a printer around 1632, Maurry had a shop on Rue aux Juifs in Rouen, at the sign of the Blooming Heart.

"Corneille remained loyal to Laurens Maurry, who printed all his works, even after he moved to Paris, up to Agésilas" (Michel Dubos).

"This magnificent tragedy" (Le Petit).

"Cinna met with unanimous acclaim from both the public and scholars. To gauge the play's impact, one need only read the letter that Guez de Balzac, a true authority in the literary world, wrote to Corneille on January 17, 1643: 'Your Cinna heals the sick, makes the paralyzed clap their hands, gives speech to a mute'" (F. Wolf).

A political tragedy, Cinna is, of all Corneille's plays, the one that, after Le Cid, created the greatest stir. Its success was extraordinary. The preference given to Cinna over all Corneille's other masterpieces is explained not only by the play's beauty and its highly perfected style. Contemporaries saw in it an allusion to the rebellious spirit of the time.

Precious and extremely rare copy bound in contemporary flexible ivory vellum.

No copy of this original quarto edition is recorded in contemporary binding on the public market since records began, 41 years ago (A.B.P.C.). Only one copy bound by a 19th-century master was ever auctioned: the Barthou copy, described as trimmed (height 219 mm), but still sold for nearly €3,000, 44 years ago. This same Barthou copy was sold for €23,000 in June 2008, 11 years ago.

The copies listed by Tchemerzine were all bound by 19th-century masters: Thibaron-Joly, Duru, Lortic, Trautz-Bauzonnet and Cuzin.