DANTE. Lot n° 39

Ɵ La Comédie, De l'Enfer, du Purgatoire & Paradis, mise en ryme françoise et commentée par M. B. Grangier. Paris, Pour George Drobet, 1596. In-12, red morocco, double gilt fillet, medallion of foliage in the center, smooth spine decorated with a repeated fleur-de-lis, title in pen, gilt edges (Binding of the period). Precious first edition in French of the 34 chants of the Inferno, the first canticle of Dante's Comedy. It was translated by Balthazar Grangier, chaplain to King Henry IV. Beautiful copper-engraved title-frontispiece by Thomas de Leu, featuring a lovely portrait of Dante in a medallion held by two angels, and a portrait of Henry IV engraved by the same artist. A fine copy, in a contemporary morocco binding attributable to George Drobet, bookseller and bookbinder to the King, established in rue Saint-Jacques, under the sign of the Soleil d'Or, and in his store at the Palais, in the Galerie des Prisonniers. Gruel, Manuel de l'amateur de reliures, t. I, between pp. 85-87, gives an off-text reproduction of an identical binding on the same edition. Printed bookplate Ex Museao J. F. M. Piou Architectonis, dated 1797 in pen. Old handwritten mention cut at the top and bottom of the title-frontispiece, which is doubled. Handwritten bookplate crossed out on the dedication page. Hinges and covers badly restored. Fiske, Dante, vol. I, p. 53. - Diane Barbier-Mueller, Inventaire..., n°381.