Contes et Nouvelles

2 octavo volumes: I/ (15) leaves, 374 pp., (3) leaves, 1 frontispiece and 32 figures; II/ 318 pp., (4) leaves, 40 figures. Olive morocco, triple gilt fillet framing the boards, corner florets, central hexagonal design with gilt leaves encircling a burgundy mosaic medallion with gilt quiver and arrows, cold-stamped shell medallions in brown mosaic, richly tooled raised bands, red morocco title label, decorated edges, gilt inner roll, gilt edges over marbling, scattered foxing. Period binding attributed to Padeloup.

153 x 93 mm.

Tchemerzine, IV, 383; Brunet, III, 1417; Rosenthal, 6401; Graesse, Trésor de livres rares et précieux, IV, 392; Catalogue of the Duke of La Vallière, I, volume 2, 3947.

“‘It is a charming book for its substance,' Montaigne already said, and like the Essays, the Heptameron has become a classic work that was found in all our fathers' libraries.It remains no less sought after today…In these tales, the queen asserts in her prologue that they are all true. Most of the time, Marguerite draws her inspiration from scenes in which she herself participated as a witness.In that sense, the Heptameron constitutes a faithful depiction of the life of polite society in France from the end of the 15th century to the middle of the 16th. For Marguerite depicts above all the customs of those around her.The Heptameron, with its sad or cheerful stories and its lively dialogues, is a long variation on love and the many aspects that shape the relations between men and women” (M. François, The Heptameron).

The Queen of Navarre (1492-1549) loved laughter and cheerful conversation. Rabelais did not hesitate to recommend to her the reading of Pantagruel as a diversion from her “ecstatic” thoughts: she read and quoted him.

“Marguerite de Navarre occupies a place of distinction in literary history, thanks to the enlightened protection she very generously granted—sometimes at risk—to poets, writers, theologians, and humanists of her time. The number of tributes she received in her lifetime attests to her influence.” (J. Brosse, Dictionary of Authors).

Strictly speaking, she borrowed no story topics from Boccaccio; but she owed to him the idea of featuring “devisants”, that is, characters supposedly telling her tales, and it is likely also out of a wish to imitate Boccaccio that she presents such a diversity of tone among the stories she assembled.

This was, to some extent, an innovation in France. Before her, among our native storytellers, pranks, cheerful misunderstandings, naïve buffooneries, and bawdy remarks were almost the only material for stories and novellas. More often than not, love was little more than ribaldry. It takes on many other aspects in the Tales and Novellas.

La Fontaine would draw inspiration from the work of Marguerite de Navarre and acknowledge this in his tale entitled The Justified Maid.

The Heptameron was to become a great success. Editions followed one another throughout the 16th century; the same continued in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Brunet and Duclos, in his Dictionary of Rare Books, cite a “superbcopy in green morocco with compartments, sold for 66 livres at M. Randon de Boisset’s sale in 1777.” (R. Duclos, Dictionary of Rare Books, III, 141).

Provenance: Library of the Count Carlo Caprara of Bologna, with his manuscript ex-libris on a flyleaf.