Les Amours

Octavo, (8) leaves, 282 pp. [pagination skips in error from 128 to 139 and from 169 to 180] and (1) leaf of errata.
Gilt vellum, gilt fillet framing the boards, central gilt decoration in small tools, raised bands, title label in red morocco added in the 17th century, some traces of wear. Precious period binding.

158 x 105 mm.

Ronsard, Pierre de (1524-1585). The Loves of P. de Ronsard Vandomois, newly enlarged by him & commented on by Marc Antoine de Muret.
Plus a few odes by the author not yet printed. (3 ll. Greek). With privilege of the King. Paris, widow Maurice de la Porte, 1553.

Only recorded complete copy (see J.-P. Barbier, no. 10 p. 41) of this printing of “the partially original edition published 7 months after the first, which contains 44 new pieces, namely 39 sonnets, 1 song, and 4 odes including the famous ‘Mignonne allons voir si la rose…’” (Tchémerzine-Scheler).

The first edition was published the previous year, in 1552.

The 1552 collection includes one hundred eighty-three sonnets, a Song, and an Amourette.

“This second edition of the Amoursis precious, not only for the previously unpublished sonnets and pieces it contains, but because among these pieces are two famous works: the Voyage to the Fortunate Islands, and especially the Ode to Cassandre ‘Mignonne, allons voir si la rose…’”.

And then there is Muret’s commentary, unpublished as well, which instantly elevated the 29-year-old poet to the rank of classic authors, since his work deserved to be abundantly explained to uninitiated readers, who might have been thrown off by so many innovations and such scholarly mythological allusions” (Jean-Paul Barbier).

This collection was inspired by a real woman, Cassandre Salviati, daughter of a Florentine banker established in Blois. Ronsard met her at a court ball in 1545. She married shortly afterwards, no doubt escaping the poet’s clutches.

“‘Les Amours’ should not be read as an autobiographical work, but as the diary of an imagined love life. This work belongs to the nascent fashion of Petrarchist ‘canzonieri.’ This means the love project is lofty, ambitious, and sometimes desperate. In keeping with the tradition of courtly love, the lover sees the beauty as an absolute being, the source of beauty and rapture, but also of a cruelty that can manifest itself without justification. He is torn between admiration, obedience, and reproach. Such material requires a ‘high’ style, rich in figures, in which Ronsard more often appears as a great poet than as a precious imitator. The ‘Amours’ are also indebted to the tradition of Ficinian Neoplatonism: love is one of the ‘furies’ that allow the soul to find the One again, its place of origin; in serenity, the woman leads the lover to Beauty. But, with Ronsard, these sublimated inspirations are not without their counterpart. Fiercely sensual, Cassandre’s lover is one of the rare Petrarchist poets to assert the rights of the flesh. Thus, he uses unmistakable language and bold imagery.

To define the ‘Amours’ of 1552-1553 as abstract, precious and conventional is to have read them only superficially. On the contrary, they reveal a mad lover, eager to break with the introversion loved by the pining suitor: wild poetry in ornamental dress.”

The original 1552 edition is very rare and very difficult to find in contemporary condition.
This is why collectors make do with copies in modern bindings. In such condition, the Rahir-Burton copy was sold for €87,800 at Sotheby’s 27 years ago (April 21, 1998).

It was catalogued at 650,000 FF (~ €100,000) by Pierre Bérès more than 25 years ago.

This second partially original edition of the second printing, which J.-P. Barbier calls the third edition, is extremely rare.

“The 1553 collection (second edition) is infinitely more common than the princeps edition of 1552. I have seen a few at auction or in the hands of booksellers. Sometimes the second edition of the 1552 musical supplement is added, which includes a notice in 15 and not 18 lines (this is not the case here nor in the following copy). By contrast, the third edition mentioned here is extremely rare. In 40 years, I have seen only one incomplete copy where many gatherings had been taken from an edition similar to the one described in this notice.” (Jean-Paul Barbier).

Exceptional copy preserved in its contemporary gilt and decorated vellum with remarkable margin size (height: 158 mm as compared to 153 mm for the Jean-Paul Barbier copy).