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OUVILLE (Antoine Le Metel)
The Tales for Leisure Hours by Sieur d’Ouville.
Paris: Toussainct Quinet, 1644.
Fees include commission and taxes.
The Tales for Leisure Hours by Sieur d’Ouville.
Paris: Toussainct Quinet, 1644.
4 volumes, in-8. 19th-century red morocco, ribbed spine, title, volume number, place and date in gold, panels decorated with small ironwork, covers decorated in the Duseuil style, double gilt fillet on the headbands and edges, interior lace, gilt edges on marbled paper [Chambolle-Duru, 1884] (spines slightly darkened, slight rubbing on the lower edges, stains on the two lower covers and on the top edges, marginal loss in the corner of pp. 353 (vol. I) and 239 (vol. 3)).
Robert Hoe (1839–1909, gilt bookplate).
Brunet IV, 263. Gay-Lemonnier, 468.
An extremely rare first edition of this humorous collection, brimming with anecdotes, bawdy humour and other immoral delights…
The Norman poet Antoine Le Métel d’Ouville (1589–1656) was as much an engineer and geographer as he was a playwright, and may well have collaborated with his brother, the Abbé de Boisrobert. He made a name for himself with several comedies that were well-received in his day, but it is his collection of tales that has truly stood the test of time.
The first volume was published in 1643 and is reprinted here for the first time, with a title page dated 1644 and a ‘printed’ date of 26 March 1643.
A different copper-engraved frontispiece appears at the beginning of each volume; that of the fourth part bears the date 1642. A copy very well bound by Chambolle-Duru in 1884. “Rare and sought-after”, writes Brunet, who notes only two volumes out of the four published in 1644. Collation: I. [16] leaves (including frontispiece), 539 pp., [2] leaves (privileges; 1 blank leaf not preserved). - II. [12] leaves (including frontispiece), 542 pp. (1 blank leaf not preserved). - III. [12] leaves (including frontispiece), 400 pp. - IV. [8] leaves (including frontispiece), 382 pp., [2] leaves (privileges).