MOUSSON (Pierre). Lot n° 32

Tragœdiæ, seu diversarum gentium et imperiorum magni principes. Dati in theatrum collegii regii Henrici Magni. La Flèche, Georges Griveau, 1621. In-8, fawn morocco, gilt double fillet and gilt roulette in frame, large coat of arms in the centre surrounded by a garland of gilt laurels, smooth mute spine decorated along the length with a frame decorated with small irons, gilt edges (contemporary binding). Original edition. This volume contains one of the only two listed works by Pierre Mousson (1560-1638), a Jesuit from Verdun who taught grammar in various colleges of the congregation and was prefect of studies at La Flèche. It reproduces four tragedies in Latin verse played by the pupils of the college and composed in the noble and antiquarian genre that the Jesuits were fond of: Pompeius Magnus, Cræsus liberatus, Cyrus punitus, Darius proditus. These pieces do not seem to have been the subject of other editions. Rare impression of La Flèche, where the famous Jesuit college named after Henri IV, its founder, had been established since 1603. It is also one of the first impressions of Georges Griveau, to whom Deschamps only started working in 1625. Very beautiful binding with the arms of Marshal Timoléon d'Epinay (1580-1644), Marquis de Saint-Luc, Lieutenant-General of the government of Guyenne in 1627, before succeeding Cardinal de Richelieu, in 1636, to the general lieutenancy of the city of Paris. This provenance is very rare. Manuscript ex-libris by Nicolas Le Comte, in Saumur, repeated on the first white guards. The frontispiece engraved by Picart is missing. Minor restorations and minimal rubbing at the binding. Through wormhole. Desgraves, Répertoire XVIIe, XII, 138, n°75 - Soleinne, I, n°236 - Pasquier-Dauphin, 314 - Sommervogel, V, 1473 - Deschamps, 505 - Guigard, II, 206.