SORBIÈRE (Samuel). Lot n° 7

Relation d'un voyage en Angleterre. Cologne, Pierre Michel, 1666. In-12 of [4] ff.-180-[3] pp. marbled calf, spine ornamented with triple gilt fillet framing the boards with crowned cipher and large gilt arms in the center, roulette on the edges, red tr. Formerly worn and restored spines and spine ends otherwise a very good copy bearing the arms of Charles de Sainte-Maure Duc de MONTAUSIER and Julie d'ANGENNES (1607-1671). Rare provenance for this emblematic couple of the society of the Précieuses. Elder daughter of the Marquis de Rambouillet and Catherine de Vivonnes, the "Incomparable Julie", celebrated for her spirit and her generosity, made her suitor, the Baron de Montausier, languish for 14 years before granting her his hand in 1645. The latter had conceived a collection of sixteen madrigals to the glory of his beloved ""La Guirlande de Julie"", written by some of the most important authors of the time (G. de Scudéry, Tallemant des Réaux, Conrart, probably Corneille, etc.), who also frequented the Hôtel de Rambouillet. The superb manuscript, calligraphed on vellum by Nicolas Jarry, decorated with flowers painted by Nicolas Robert, and bound in red morocco by Le Gascon, is now preserved in the manuscript department of the Bibliothèque nationale de France. (Willems 1760; Barbier, IV, 202.)