Les Lettres
Rare first edition of The Correspondence of Malherbe in contemporary binding.
“ The Correspondence of Malherbe is of the greatest interest as it constitutes a chronicle of life in Paris and at the Court during the end of the reign of Henri IV and the beginning of the reign of Louis XIII. Many of these letters, however, go beyond the memoir genre.” (Dictionary of Works).
12mo of (1) leaf and 366 pp.
Tawny calf, spine with raised bands decorated in grotesque style, red morocco title label, decorated edges, gilt edges over marbling, corners and caps worn. Contemporary binding.
137 x 73 mm.
Malherbe. The Letters of Mr. François de Malherbe, Gentleman-in-Ordinary of the King’s Chamber.
Paris, Antoine de Sommaville, 1645.
At the beginning, before the Letters, there is the 33rd book of Livy, with the dedication to the Duke of Luynes.
Rare first edition of theLetters of Malherbe not listed by Brunet and Deschamps.
The Correspondence of Malherbe (c. 1555-1628) is of great interest, as it represents a chronicle of the life of Paris and the Court during the end of the reign of Henry IV and the beginning of the reign of Louis XIII. Many of these letters, however, go beyond the genre of Memoirs: Malherbe reveals himself as both a critic and a moralist. A classical moralist, an “honest man” who does not believe it is his mission to correct others or to play the role of a fierce guardian of virtue, he contents himself with gently guiding his friends, persuading them with reason (notably by reminding them of death’s universal reign) to accept the turns of fortune. “The life of man,” he writes, “has its dregs, just like wine. Living and aging are so closely linked that even the imagination struggles to separate them. On earth, everything changes, everything alters, not from year to year, month to month, nor week to week, but from day to day, hour to hour, and moment to moment.” Should we, for this, lose heart?
To spare his friends from anguish, Malherbe appeals less to divine hope than to the joys that nature, even in our mourning, continues to offer us. This eminently classical confidence in the order of the world is clear, for example, when the fickle-hearted Malherbe evokes the solidity of affections rooted in natural law: “The friendships that opinions instill in us start lightly and end the same way; the faintest suspicion shakes them, a small offense ruins them; those born from feelings of nature cling to us with such deep roots that only prodigious force can tear them away.”
The tone of these Letters is often laden with pessimism: “Whatever garment we may wear in this world, and by whatever path we walk it, we always arrive at the same place. This life is sheer foolishness.”
But if Malherbe abhors mankind, he frankly confesses to having found “two beautiful things in this world, women and roses, and two good morsels, women and melons.”
God, he adds, no doubt regretted having made man; but he never regretted having made woman!
Valuable and very rare copy preserved in its 17th-century binding.
