Beschreibung:

MARGUERITE D'ANGOULÊME (Queen of Navarre, 1492-1549). Les Nouvelles [ L'Heptaméron ]. Berne: la Nouvelle Société Typographique, 1780-81. Three volumes. 8° (192 x 107mm). Letterpress half-titles to each volume, engraved frontispiece by Eichler after Dunker in vol.I only, 73 plates after Freudeberg, engraved by Delaunay, C. Guttenberg, Halbou, Henriquez, Leroy, de Longueil, and Thiébault; 72 headpieces and 72 tailpieces after Dunker, engraved by Eichler, Pillet and Richter. (Lacking the Dunker-Eichler frontispiece in vols.II-III, some light foxing, light browning on some leaves.) French contemporary red morocco, spine gilt with olive morocco labels, blue endpapers, g.e. Provenance : engraved bookplate in each volume with name erased. SUITE of plates illustrating the above (Berne 1780-81) edition of l'Heptaméron . 4° (273 x 213mm). 80 engraved plates comprising frontispiece after Dunker and 73 plates after Freudeberg, with 6 plates present in duplicate. Both copies of the frontispiece are in a state different from the one issued above, and one is printed on papier Chine. All plates are tipped into an album. (Some spotting on a very few plates.) Red morocco, gilt inner dentelles, marbled endpaper, g.e., by Riviere & Son. Modelled on the Decameron , Marguerite's Heptaméron is a collection of tales with a moral or religious intent. The characters and events are based on real people within Marguerite's circle. The illustrations in this edition by the Swiss artists, Sigismond Freudenberger (known as Freudeberg) and Balthazar-Antoine Dunker, are "très jolie et gravées avec une finesse remarquable" (Cohen-de Ricci). The Guggenheim copy is a large copy, as the presence of numbers in the very bottom margin of many plates in volume three attest. According to Ray, the illustrations are best seen in large copies. The accompanying suite of plates shows them to even greater advantage, and many retain their deckle edges. Cohen-de Ricci 680-81; Ray 66. (4)