FLORES (Juan de) Lot n° 21

Le Jugement Damours, Auquel est racomptée Lhystoire de Ysabel, fille du roy Descosse. Paris, s.n. [Pierre Leber pour Pierre Sergent], 1533. 2 parts in one volume in-16, lemon morocco, small gilt lace, ornate spine, inner lace, gilt edges (19th century binding). Extremely rare edition of this sentimental novel written by Juan de Flores (c. 1455-c. 1525) and first published in Spanish in the 1490s under the title Grisel y Mirabella. The translation, the first in French, is by the lawyer Jean Beaufilz and had first appeared in Paris at Jérôme Denis in September 1529 with material by Geoffroy Tory. The second part of the work is occupied by Le Messagier Damour, which has a special title page and a separate foliotation: this poem, one of the most beautiful written in French in the 15th century, is the work of a certain Jean Piquelin. It would seem that only two copies of this extremely rare edition remain today: the one described by Pierre Berès in his catalog Des Valois à Henri IV under n°120, and this one, which would seem to be the copy of Baron Seillière (cat. 1890, n°820 : mar. citron, thread, spine decorated, int. dent., tr. dor.). No copy is listed in the major online catalogs, notably that of the BnF. Moreau, t. IV, n°682 (only mentions the Berès copy).