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Lot n° 32

DORAT (Jean).

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Magnificentissimi spectaculi, a regina Regum Matre in hortis suburbanis editi, in Henrici Regis Poloniae invictissimi nuper renunciati gratulationem, descriptio. Paris, Fédéric Morel, 1573. Plaquette in-4, black morocco, boards framed with gilt fillet and decorated with a mosaic of empty fanfare in fawn morocco, gilt numeral in center, ornate spine, fawn morocco lining set with gilt fillet, chocolate moire endpapers, smooth edges, case (Semet & Plumelle). Very rare first edition of this beautiful holiday book. Relation du ballet dit des Polonais, mis en scène par Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx, qu'offert la reine Catherine de Médicis en 1573 à la délégation polonaise venue présente au duc d'Anjou (futur Henri III) la couronne de Pologne. In his Mémoires, Brantôme recounts that, after a sumptuous banquet at the Tuileries, the audience moved to a large hall, set up for the occasion, and surrounded by an infinite number of torches, where the most beautiful ballet ever performed took place. It was composed of sixteen Dames & Damoiselles, [...] who appeared in a large silver rock, where they were seated in niches in the form of clouds on all sides. The sixteen Ladies represented the sixteen Provinces of France, with the most melodious music we have ever seen [...], the violins rising to about thirty, sounding almost a very pleasant war air. Considered the most famous of the ballets danced at court during the reign of Charles IX, this feast marks the vogue and triumph of figurative dance in France (Henry Prunières, Le Ballet de cour en France avant Benserade et Lully, pp. 55-56). The edition is illustrated with woodcuts attributed to Jean Cousin or Olivier Codoré: 3 large full-page woodcuts, one allegorical depicting Jupiter seated beneath a trophy and surrounded by Athena and Apollo, the other two representing the monument built for the ballet and the dance hall; 16 vignettes in the form of emblems accompany the Catalogus Nympharum. In addition to Dorat's description of the festivities in Latin verse, the work also contains an ode by Amadis Jamyn (La Nymphe angevine parle) and an unpublished ode by Ronsard that was not reprinted during the poet's lifetime (La Nymphe de France parle). A washed copy, in a fine fanfare binding with empty compartments bearing the collector's number. J. P. Barbier-Mueller, II-1 n°81 and III n°79. - Dumoulin, Morel, n°218. - Mortimer, n°177. - Ronsard, la trompette et la lyre, n°245. - Diane Barbier-Mueller, Inventaire..., n°220 and 753.