Details
JODELLE, Etienne (1532-1573). Le Recueil des Inscriptions, Figures, Devises et Masquarades, ordonnées en l'Hostel de Ville à Paris, le jeudi 17 de février 1558. Paris: André Wechel, 1558.
4° (233 x 175mm.). Collation: A4-M4. Woodcut printer's device on title and verso of M4, woodcut head-pieces. (Slight occasional spotting, two tiny wormholes in lower margin.) 19th-century red morocco, gilt turn-ins, by Trautz-Bauzonnet. Provenance: D. E. F. Ruggieri (booklabel).
Rare FIRST EDITION of Jodelle's account of the disastrous festivities he organised for Henri II in 1558, commissioned to celebrate the royal victory over the Huguenots at Guimer. The Pléiade poet and dramatist Jodelle, who had gained the king's favour six years earlier with his Cleopatra, was given four days to organise a series of masques for the occasion. But the actors did not have time to learn their lines properly and the theatrical machinery failed to work on the night. Jodelle termed the whole performance a "désastre", and published this book in order to vindicate himself. However his health and his reputation never recovered from the episode: the Biographie Générale states that, from this time on, "Jodelle végéta dans l'obscurité et la misère".
4° (233 x 175mm.). Collation: A4-M4. Woodcut printer's device on title and verso of M4, woodcut head-pieces. (Slight occasional spotting, two tiny wormholes in lower margin.) 19th-century red morocco, gilt turn-ins, by Trautz-Bauzonnet. Provenance: D. E. F. Ruggieri (booklabel).
Rare FIRST EDITION of Jodelle's account of the disastrous festivities he organised for Henri II in 1558, commissioned to celebrate the royal victory over the Huguenots at Guimer. The Pléiade poet and dramatist Jodelle, who had gained the king's favour six years earlier with his Cleopatra, was given four days to organise a series of masques for the occasion. But the actors did not have time to learn their lines properly and the theatrical machinery failed to work on the night. Jodelle termed the whole performance a "désastre", and published this book in order to vindicate himself. However his health and his reputation never recovered from the episode: the Biographie Générale states that, from this time on, "Jodelle végéta dans l'obscurité et la misère".