LE GRAND Fabliaux or Tales, Abridged from French 1815

November 23, 2021

Rare Books, Documents, Photos, and Artwork

Lot 119

LE GRAND Fabliaux or Tales, Abridged from French 1815

Estimate: $600 - $700

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Pierre Jean Baptiste Le Grand D?Aussy,. Fabliaux or Tales, Abridged from French Manuscripts of the XIIth and XIIIth Centuries

Offered for sale by Trillium Antiquarian Books. For more information please contact William Van Nest at info@trilliumbooks.ca.

Pierre Jean Baptiste Le Grand D’Aussy,. Fabliaux or Tales, Abridged from French Manuscripts of the XIIth and XIIIth Centuries. London: J. Rodwell, 1815. New edition, corrected, in three volumes (xli, 223; 272; 304, Glossary), selected and translated into English verse by G. L. Way with a Preface and Notes by G. Ellis. Octavo, in full leather, fine gilt titles and decoration, five raised bands; marbled epps and edges. Fifty-two head- and tailpieces, eight by Thomas Bewick and Charles Nesbit from designs by John Bewick, Thomas’ brother, who died before the work was completed. Bulner notes in his Preface to the first edition (1796), “The engravings may therefore be considered as the last efforts of this ingenious and much to be lamented Artist. In executing the Engravings, his Brother, Mr. Thomas Bewick, has bestowed every possible care” (quoted in Uglow 217). The twenty-five tales collected here originated with twelfth and thirteenth century French troubadours; the abridgements in modern French translation and with considerable annotation by Le Grand were published 1779. The first edition in English translation appeared in two volumes (1796, 1800); this then is the second edition, also quite heavily annotated (who could wear the hauberk and why). Many of these tales will be familiar in English (see Chaucer’s Reeve’s Tale) for they are a common inheritance from what were in their time the romances of a common high French culture, no matter it was Paris or Londres. Several corners worn. A bright, handsome set.

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