French Literature through the Ages from Librairie Clavreuil

Librairie Clavreuil has published a catalogue of Littérature. This is the first part of a catalogue that will have a second part published in January. It is presented in chronological order, with the aim to highlight important milestones in the history of French literature. This first part covers the years from 1483-1698, the next catalogue running from the 18^th through the 20^th century. They note that the selection includes the most well-known names, such as Rabelais, Marot, Corneille, Molière, and La Fontaine, but also writers not as familiar but still important to the development of the genre. Here are a few selection of works published from the 15^th through the 17^th century. We note that this catalogue is written in the French language.

We begin with the oldest book in the collection, dating back to 1483. The title is Le Miroir de la Rédemption de l’Humain Lignage (The Mirror of the Redemption of the Human Lineage). The Mirror of Redemption synthesized the religious beliefs of its time, this one written in a vernacular language so it could be understood by the masses, at least of the masses who could read. It followed a long-established form of being a “mirror” on the world. This book had another feature to make it more accessible to the masses. It featured illustration, the first illustrated book published in France. The publisher was Matthias Huss of Lyon. Matthias, and before him his brother or cousin Martin Huss, printed editions starting in 1478. This edition is almost identical to the earlier ones. It features 257 woodcut figurines, the first two enhanced with the color red. Item 1. Priced at €80,000 (euros, or approximately $85,213 in U.S. dollars).

Next is Le Tiers livre des faictz et dictz Héroiques du noble Pantagruel (the third book of the facts and sayings of Pantagruel), by Francois Rebelais. This is a rare fourth edition from 1547. The first was published in 1546. Only eight copies are known. Rabelais was a doctor, monk, and writer. He was a humanist rather than orthodox churchman, whose wit and satire was targeted across all sorts of people who did not share his values. He was not afraid to target the Pope nor Protestant leaders whose motives he questioned. Adding to that he satirized kings and other political leaders who had little regard for their subjects. Rabelais achieved his satire through the adventures of Gargantua and his son, Pantagruel, a pair of giants. He was not afraid to use off-color humor despite being a monk. Caricature, exaggeration, fantasy and the absurd were among his tools. This third book is accompanied by a copy of the fourth book, Le Quart livre des faictz & dictz Heroiques du noble Pantagruel. This is known in only six copies. €250,000 (US $266,235).

This is Les Amours de Psyché et Cupidon (the Loves of Psyche and Cupid). This book is from 1669 but the story goes all the way back to ancient Greek times. It is about the seduction of the innocent Psyche by Cupid, or the soul by love. This version was the creation of Jean de la Fontaine, the great French fabulist, who updated Aesop's and others' fables. His fables are well-known even today, even if La Fontaine's name is not as famous outside of France. In his retelling of the old story, a group of friends get together in a park and one of them tells the old tale. Psyche is put through her trials before emerging to a positive outcome. Item 74. €6,000 (US $6,387).

This book is another French first, the first great French treatise on agronomy. The title is L’Agriculture et Maison Rustique... (Agriculture and the rustic house), by Charles Estienne, published in 1564. I am particularly fond of those old books with very long titles, which gave a good summary of what the book is about. Here is the rest of the title for this book (translated from French) - “...In which contains everything that may be required to build a country house, feeding & medicine, livestock & poultry of all kinds, train gardens, both vegetable gardens and flowerbeds, control flies, honey, plant and bury all kinds of fruit trees, maintain the meadows, fishponds & ponds, plowing the grain lands, shaping the vines, plant high-growth woods & coppices, build a warren, the heronry & the park for wild animals. Plus a brief collection of hunting & falconry.” This was not meant for the poor farmer scratching out a living, but it is unlikely they could read or afford books in the 17^th century. Actually, even this title only provides a broad summary of what you can learn, as Clavreuil notes more of the detail, such as botany, gastronomy, canning recipes, making wine, beer, and liquors, baking, and fox hunting, which tells you these were more gentleman farmers. Still, it is a thorough self-sufficiency manual for those owning a farm. Item 27. €35,000 (US $37,325).

We mostly learn of natural phenomena through science these days, and the scientific method, whereby we acquire knowledge through our senses and experience. That was not always the case. In the 17^th century, it was more rationalism, where we figured things out in our mind, and if the senses contradicted, they were simply deceiving. One of the great French philosophers of the time, much forgotten by everyone beyond scholars now, was Nicolas Malebranche. He was a priest and like many philosophers of his time, religion was the motivation behind his thinking. We tend to forget that even one of the greatest scientists of that time, Isaac Newton, was basically out to confirm his religious beliefs, rather than develop this new field now known as science. This is one of Malebranche's two major works, De la Recherche de la Vérité (Of the Search for Truth), published in 1674. His belief was that substances can't cause anything to happen. What we perceive as cause and effect between them is actually two separate events caused by God. We would find that odd and scientifically unsustainable, but again, he was thinking and using religious texts, not falling for the deceptions of the eyes and ears. He got into some esoteric debates over these theories, particularly one with Antoine Arnauld, who managed to have some of his works blacklisted by the Church. This one eventually managed to achieve that distinction, but the chances are, you will not find it that offensive, even if you can understand these long ago esoteric arguments. Item 83. €850 (US $905).

Librairie Clavreuil in Paris may be reached at +33 (0)1 43 26 97 69 or basane@librairieclavreuil.com. Stephane Clavreuil Rare Books in London may be reached at +44 798 325 2200 or stephane@clavreuil.co.uk.

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French Literature through the Ages from Librairie Clavreuil

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