BERTAUT (Jean). Lot n° 19

Ɵ Recueil des œuvres poétiques. Paris, Mamert Patisson, 1601. In-8, granite calf, spine ornate, red speckled edges (Binding circa 1700). First collective edition of these occasional and religiously inspired works: 62 pieces in all, including hymns, a lament, funeral speeches, epitaphs, epigrams, hymns and sonnets. A Norman poet from Caen, Jean Bertaut (1552-1611) was the tutor of the young Charles de Valois, Count of Auvergne, bastard son of Charles IX, then the secretary of Henri III for thirteen years. In poetry, he was a disciple of Desportes, but it was the work of the great Ronsard that awakened his senses: I was not sixteen years old when the first flame / With which your Muse enamored me, ignited in my soul, he sings in his funeral elegy on the death of the Vendome (f. 89 v°). J. P. Barbier-Mueller, IV-1, n°29. - Renouard, p. 192. - Diane Barbier-Mueller, Inventaire..., n°63.