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THIRY, Léonard (ca 1500-1550) and GOHORY, Jacques (d. 1576). Livre de la Conqueste de la Toison d'or, par le Prince Iason de Tessalie: faict par figures avec exposition d'icelles. Paris: Jean de Mauregard, 1563.
Oblong 4o (219 x 272 mm). Letterpress title and 3 leaves of text. Engravings by René Boyvin after Léonard Thiry. 21 of the plates are in the first state. (Plate 15 with small marginal repairs.) Gold-tooled olive morocco in Renaissance style by Gruel; marbled board slipcase. Provenance: Abraham Le Trippier, goldsmith at Le Mans (signature on title, early 17th-century owner's inscription on flyleaf and subsequent purchase inscription underneath); acquired from Bernard Quaritch, 1977.
FIRST EDITION, FIRST STATE of the title, with 21 plates in the first state, before letters (plates 14, 15, 19, 20 and 26 are in the second state, with small numbers added at top). Léonard Thiry's illustrations of the story of Jason and Medea, engraved by René Boyvin, constitute one of the most important suites from the School of Fontainebleau. "It is rare to see scenes of night rendered by means of engraving, even rarer is Boyvin's success in producing those" (W. McA. Johnson, L'Ecole de Fontainebleau, Paris, 1972, p.248). Many of Thiry's preliminary drawings are preserved at the Printroom at Leyden University, and from them we can see how Boyvin not only reversed them but enriched them with depth and their dynamic outer frames.
The publisher Jean de Mauregard commissioned Jacques Gohory to provide the story of the Golden Fleece and Léonard Thiry to illustrate this story for King Charles IX, to whom the book is dedicated. The work appeared in two editions of which the French is considered the first. Gohory was an eminent literary figure at the French court, having translated Livy and Machiavelli into French, as well as editing the Amadis of Gaul from Spanish into French. In his letter to the King, Mauregard mentions not only the effort and skills of Thiry and Boyvin but also indicated the suite's purpose -- to serve as a model for tapestries (to rival the series of Cupid and Psyche already in the Royal Collection) or for paintings to hang in the King's gallery. And the theme was not chosen randomly: both Mauregard and Gohory refer to the institution of the order of the Golden Fleece by the Dukes of Burgundy; the Kings of France had become Knights of this order. Mortimer French 519.
Oblong 4o (219 x 272 mm). Letterpress title and 3 leaves of text. Engravings by René Boyvin after Léonard Thiry. 21 of the plates are in the first state. (Plate 15 with small marginal repairs.) Gold-tooled olive morocco in Renaissance style by Gruel; marbled board slipcase. Provenance: Abraham Le Trippier, goldsmith at Le Mans (signature on title, early 17th-century owner's inscription on flyleaf and subsequent purchase inscription underneath); acquired from Bernard Quaritch, 1977.
FIRST EDITION, FIRST STATE of the title, with 21 plates in the first state, before letters (plates 14, 15, 19, 20 and 26 are in the second state, with small numbers added at top). Léonard Thiry's illustrations of the story of Jason and Medea, engraved by René Boyvin, constitute one of the most important suites from the School of Fontainebleau. "It is rare to see scenes of night rendered by means of engraving, even rarer is Boyvin's success in producing those" (W. McA. Johnson, L'Ecole de Fontainebleau, Paris, 1972, p.248). Many of Thiry's preliminary drawings are preserved at the Printroom at Leyden University, and from them we can see how Boyvin not only reversed them but enriched them with depth and their dynamic outer frames.
The publisher Jean de Mauregard commissioned Jacques Gohory to provide the story of the Golden Fleece and Léonard Thiry to illustrate this story for King Charles IX, to whom the book is dedicated. The work appeared in two editions of which the French is considered the first. Gohory was an eminent literary figure at the French court, having translated Livy and Machiavelli into French, as well as editing the Amadis of Gaul from Spanish into French. In his letter to the King, Mauregard mentions not only the effort and skills of Thiry and Boyvin but also indicated the suite's purpose -- to serve as a model for tapestries (to rival the series of Cupid and Psyche already in the Royal Collection) or for paintings to hang in the King's gallery. And the theme was not chosen randomly: both Mauregard and Gohory refer to the institution of the order of the Golden Fleece by the Dukes of Burgundy; the Kings of France had become Knights of this order. Mortimer French 519.