SPIFAME (Martin). Lot n° 127

Les Premières œuvres poétiques. Paris, Pour la Veuve Lucas Breyer, 1583. In-12, dark blue morocco, double cold fillet, gilt coat of arms in center, ornate spine, interior lace, gilt edges (H. Duru). Second edition of this extremely rare collection of poems. Dedicated to Henri III, it contains numerous spiritual sonnets, mainly relating to moral philosophy and the Holy Scriptures. There is also a poem addressed to Princess Henriette de Clèves, Duchesse de Nivernois, entitled La Loüange du mariage contre Desportes, a Tombeau de Messire Gilles Spifame évêque de Nevers, and songs. An admirable Harangue de la parfaite amitié closes the collection. The poet is less well known than his brother Raoul, an insane lawyer at the Parliament of Paris, whom Nerval portrayed as the King of Bicêtre in his Illuminés. In his preface to the reader, the latter informs us that his work was first printed in Bourges (around the mid-1570s), but that the edition, which was very faulty, had to be withdrawn entirely from the market. A fine copy, bearing the arms of the Marquis de Coislin. It belonged to General Jacques Willems and appeared in the Berès bookshop catalog, Des Valois à Henri IV, under no. 325. From the libraries of the Marquis de Coislin (not described in the 1847 and 1857 catalogs), Félix Solar (1860, n°1257) and William Martin (1869, n°469). Renouard, Breyer, n°50. - Diane Barbier-Mueller, Inventaire..., n°810.