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Rare French translation of the thirteenth book, with gilt supralibros of Le Basile d'Argenteuil

[AMADIS DE GAULE].
Le Treziesme livre d'Amadis de Gaule: Traduit nouvellement d'Espagnol en François, par I(acques)  G(ohory) P(arisien). Traittant les hauts faits d'armes du gentil chevalier Sylves de la Selve, filz de l'empereur Amadis de Grece, & de la royne de Thebes Finistee: avec les aventures estranges d'armes & d'amours de Rogel de Grece, Agesilan de Colcos & autres avenuës sur l'entreprise & cours de la guerre du grand Roy Bulthazar de Russie, contre les Chrestiens. Et apres, les mariages de Diane, Leonide & Autres.

With woodcut vignette on title.

With woodcut vignette on title.



Montluel (Rhône Alpes), Bartholemy Pro, 1576. 16mo. Contemporary calf, spine ribbed and gilt, with double fillet borders on sides and the gilt supralibros of Le Basile d'Argenteuil in centre on both sides. With woodcut vignette on title. 507, (15) pp.

Very rare edition of the thirteenth part of the Amadis de Gaule (actually Spanish book XIIa). In sixteenth-century France, few books were read so avidly as the series of two dozen novels known collectively as Amadis de Gaule. Yet although it was a roaring success at court, Amadis was scorned by many humanists, who condemned its racy tales of sex, magic, and adventure as lascivious and silly, at best a waste of time better spent on more profound reading.
The Amadis romances most likely originated in Castilia in the 14th century, but European fame only started with the publication of the Amadis de Gaula in the Spanish adaptation by Garcia Rodrigues de Montalvo, at Zaragoza, in 1508. The editio princeps consisted of four books, of which the oldest known edition is from 1519, and to which in the course of the 16th century new books were added. Real fame however was due to the elegant French translation by Nicolas the Herberay des Essars, which started to be published at Paris in 1540. Most subsequent translations followed the French version.
De Herberay made the genre very popular, first in court-circles, then also with the people, and editions in all languages were published till far into the 18th century. In French the Amadis grew until, at the beginning of the 17th century, it reached 24 Books - Jacques Gohory being the translator of the thirteenth book -, several of which probably were directly composed in French since no Spanish prototypes are known. Amadis de Gaule was modelled after the characters from King Artur's Round Table, especially after Lancelot and Tristan. So the Amadis romances also are peopled with giants, dwarfs, and fairies from the Celtic wonder-world, and the characters are gifted with a boundless chivalric fantasy. Amadis became loved  as a model of honour and an exemplary knight. It was the great merit of Garcia Rodrigues de Montalvo to have blended the pure chivalric spirit of the Middle Ages with the Renaissance atmosphere. Even Don Quichot loved the Amadis and did not burn it like the other romances. The Amadis, as a document of the hero-worship in the time of the Renaissance and Baroque, still remains of literary, cultural, and historical world-importance.
After the title (verso blank) follow the dedication to Caterine de Cleramont, contesse de Retz, by Jacques Gohory, dated Paris 1571 (pp. 3-10), the preface (pp. (11-19)), laudatory poem on this translation by Gohory by R. Belleau (p. (21)), the 58 chapters of the text (pp. 22-507 (verso blank)), 14 pp. Table.

Good copy, from a contemporary noble library, and with the bookplate of Le Camus.- (Binding sl. rubbed).
Foulche-Delbosc, Bibl. Hispano-Française 432; Index Aurel. 104.426; Brunet I, 216; 2 copies in Paris, BN; not in STC French.

Related Subjects: 16th Century  Armorial Bindings  French  Romances of Chivalry 

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