Theatre d’Amour.

s.l., s.n. c. 1606.

Small folio (256 x 169 mm.). [iv], [24]p. ETCHED TITLE, TWO ARMORIAL PLATES with six lines of French verse (scutcheons blank, see below), a leaf of engraved verses on the book and TWENTY-FOUR ETCHED CIRCULAR EMBLEMS IN ORNAMENTAL FRAMES incorporating Latin and Italian mottoes and French verse — PRINTED ON RECTOS ONLY.

Gilt-ruled crushed green morocco (Chambolle-Duru, front hinge rubbed, corner bumped), spine and title gilt, turn-ins gilt, all edges gilt, parti-colored silk marker.

Only Edition. This elegant album was created for Francophone distribution. Like a gallery of amorous paintings, the circular emblems sit in highly decorative frames above sixains in French beautifully cut in one of nearly twenty different hands. Adams conjectures that “the coats of arms on leaves 3 and 4 were left blank to allow the insertion of the arms of the lady recipient and the gentleman donor”. Bibliographic descriptions of the suite vary. Four copies in U.S. libraries (one I sold, one cut out and mounted). In good condition, from the library of Jérôme baron Pichon (Catalogue (3-14.V.1897) 352).
¶Breugelmans, “Quaeris quid sit amor? Ascription, Date of Publication and Printer” in Quaerendo III (1972) 281-290, esp. 288-90,IV; Adams et al. A Bibliography of French Emblem Books F.562; Landwehr, French…Books of Devices and Emblems 717; New Hollstein The De Gheyn Family II (2000) edd. Kok & Leesberg p. 143,e = nos. 307-31.

Item #09952

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Status: On Hold