La Premiere Face Dv Ianvs François…Le tout fait en François & Latin…par Iean Aimes De Chavigny Beavnois.
Lyon, É. and P. II Roussin 1594.
4to (225 x 178 mm.). [xxxii], 336, [16]p. Bilingual text with French on versos and Latin on facing rectos.
Contemporary limp vellum (soiled, front panel with remnants of black paint and a 10 cm. natural flaw from the corner toward the center), slightly overlapping fore-edges, faded manuscript spine title, stubs of four pigskin ties.
First Edition, all published (the second volume, covering 1589-1607, never appeared). THIS IS THE FIRST SYSTEMATIC INTERPRETATION OF NOSTRADAMUS’ PROPHECIES AND THE FIRST BIOGRAPHY OF THE PHYSICIAN TURNED SOOTHSAYER. The First Face of the French Janus preserves passages from his lost prognostications for 1552 and 1553 and remains the only source for his fragmentary “Centuries” XI and XII. The 1594 issue under the Latin title Iani Gallici Facies Prior does not have the preliminary poem praising Nostradamus’ secretary and amanuensis Jean-Aimé de Chavigny (d. after 1608), the Au lecteur clarifying the book’s use of the term “prophet” or any indication that the approbation was granted only after Chavigny removed the “word and title of Prophet” (p. [xv], tr.).
Chavigny selected hundreds of French quatrains from Nostradamus’ almanacs and his Prophéties, translated them into Latin and carefully arranged them chronologically to document France’s turbulent history from the Affair of the Placards (1534) to the assassination of Henri III and the end of the Valois dynasty (1589). Below each numbered quatrain, Chavigny explains individual words, whole lines and entire passages, while occasionally confessing his bafflement. The text ends with a discourse on the prophecies foretelling the new Bourbon dynasty and the future greatness of Henri IV, the book’s dedicatee. The subject and quatrain first-line indices in French and in Latin raised the volume to a work of reference. Of the two issues together, I have located three copies in U.S. libraries. In good condition (light stains in the blank margins, two quires browned, one natural paper flaw), 18th-century title inscription of François de Pontac.
¶Guinard, “Vie et Œuvres de Jean Aimé de Chavigny” in Corpus Nostradamus 239 (online); Benazra, Répertoire chronologique nostradamique (1545-1989) 130-9; Chomarat, Bibliographie Nostradamus 154 & illus. 22; Cantamessa, Astrologia opere a stampa 963; Caillet, Manuel bibliographique des sciences…occultes 2303 “Ouvrage fort singulier”; Barbier-Mueller, Ma Bibliothèque poétique IV(4): 37 “précieux”; Gültlingen, Bibliographie des livres imprimés à Lyon au 16e siècle XV: 82-3,62; Brunet I: 1828.
Price: $17,500.00