{"product_id":"france-at-the-dawn-of-the-year-1500","title":"France at the Dawn of the Year 1500","description":"\u003ch3\u003eRobert Gaguin’s Definitive History of France Printed on Vellum and Illuminated for the Circle of Louis XII\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGaguin, Robert. \u003cem\u003eCompendium Roberti Gaguini super Francorum gestis: ab ipso recognitum \u0026amp; auctum.\u003c\/em\u003e Paris, Thielman Kerver for Durand Gerlier and Jean Petit, 1500.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne of the most important French historical books of the early Renaissance: the definitive and final authorial edition of Robert Gaguin’s celebrated history of France, printed in Paris during the symbolic “Jubilee Year” 1500 and preserved here in an extraordinarily rare vellum copy illuminated in gold and colours.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOnly four or five vellum copies of this edition are known. The present example is among the most remarkable of all surviving copies, uniquely combining sumptuous contemporary illumination, a rare variant setting of the first gathering, and strong evidence linking the book to the immediate political and ceremonial environment of King Louis XII.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eEdition \u0026amp; Bibliographic Information\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAa6 a-z6 A-F6 = title leaf, 5 leaves with three-column indexes, 169 numbered leaves, 5 leaves. Printed on vellum with narrow marginal commentary columns and pale red ruling throughout. Illustrated with a full-page title woodcut repeated on the penultimate leaf and printer’s device, all magnificently illuminated in gold and colours, together with ten six- to seven-line illuminated initials in gold, nine on pink-and-blue grounds and one on pink ground. Folio (ca. 275 × ca. 190 mm).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSeventeenth-century brown calf binding over five raised bands with rich gilt floral tooling in spine compartments and gilt spine title; edges sprinkled in two colours. Some rubbing; small restoration at upper margin of title; first and last leaves with a few wormholes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eRobert Gaguin and the Humanist History of France\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRobert Gaguin (1433–1501), diplomat, humanist, historian, and former ambassador of Louis XI, spent the final decades of his life constructing a modern history of France shaped by Renaissance humanism rather than medieval chronicle tradition alone.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe first edition appeared in 1495 and already occupied a central place within French intellectual culture. Erasmus of Rotterdam contributed concluding verses — his very first published work — while additional texts came from leading humanists including Benedictus Montenatus, Faustus Andrelinus, Cornelius Girardus Goudensis, and Jodocus Badius Ascensius.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe present fourth edition of 1500 was the first to appear in elegant Roman type rather than Gothic, signalling a deliberate visual alignment with Italian humanist printing. Brunet described it as “plus belle, plus ample et plus correcte” than all preceding editions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMore importantly, it was the edition “dernière main”: the final version personally revised and expanded by Gaguin himself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eFrance and the Turning of an Era\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe historical timing of the edition is extraordinary.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLouis XII had unexpectedly ascended the throne in 1498 following the death of Charles VIII, inaugurating what many contemporaries perceived as the beginning of a new political era for France. He quickly consolidated power through his marriage to Anne of Brittany and resumed the Italian campaigns abandoned after the French defeat at Fornovo.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGaguin correspondingly expanded his history to include the king’s successful return from Italy and his intervention in territorial disputes along the Lower Rhine in late 1499. The chronicle therefore extends almost directly up to the moment of printing itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt the same time Paris experienced a symbolic catastrophe: on 25 October 1499 the Pont Notre-Dame collapsed into the Seine. The disaster, heavily discussed at the end of the volume and in Josse Bade’s afterword, became a kind of emblematic rupture between the old century and the new.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this particularly rare variant, an additional nineteen-line paragraph records the punishment of those held responsible for the collapse, ending with the date corresponding to 9 January 1500. The colophon itself is dated 13 January 1500 and explicitly invokes the Christian Jubilee Year. Author and printer clearly conceived the edition as appearing at a moment of world-historical transition: the old age had passed, and a new one was beginning.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGaguin himself would not live to see much of it. He died the following year.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eA Royal Copy?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe present vellum copy possesses several features suggesting an origin within the immediate orbit of Louis XII.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe three woodcuts are illuminated at an exceptionally high level in gold and colours, but even more revealing is the treatment of the repeated title illustration on the penultimate leaf. The image depicts Saints Denis and Remy flanking a column inscribed “Iusticia” and “Fides,” surmounted by the crowned arms of France. Originally the surrounding border included the arms of the twelve provinces of France. In this copy, however, those provincial arms were deliberately overpainted beneath a refined gold zigzag border.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe visual effect radically recentres the composition around the king himself rather than the provinces of the realm. In the political context of Louis XII’s early reign — with Brittany newly secured and French ambitions extending toward Italy and the Empire — the modification takes on unmistakable ideological significance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBecause the overpainting is strictly contemporary, it strongly suggests that this copy originated within the ceremonial or political milieu of the new king.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eOne of Only a Few Known Vellum Copies\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe rarity of the book is exceptional.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVan Praet knew only three vellum copies besides the royal example. Brunet and Graesse likewise recorded only a handful. The present copy additionally contains the rare title-page variant corresponding to Pellechet 4972A, in which the first gathering derives from a different setting than most surviving copies.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe combination of vellum printing, illumination, variant setting, rare textual annex, and possible royal association elevates the present volume into the highest category of early French Renaissance book production.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eProvenance\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFaded and partially erased contemporary ownership inscription on the verso of the illustrated penultimate leaf: “Moy Emile Jean sire de Ceyssane” (Cezanne; Gascon nobility according to Rietstap). Contemporary pen trials on final blank. Nineteenth-century note on rear flyleaf: “Cet ouvrage vient de la bibliothèque de pont-hu[ponthieu?].” Later French private collection.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eLiterature\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAdams G 16; BM STC French 191; BMC VIII, 217; Brunet II, 1438; Claudin II, 283ff.; Goff G-15; Graesse III, 4; GW IX, 10454; Hain *7413; Hubay 395; IDL 1877; Ohly\/Sack 1178f.; Panzer II, 333, no. 590; Pellechet 284 and 4972A; Polain 1539; Renouard 1908 II, 448ff.; Van Praet V, 92f., no. 110.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor a fuller scholarly description and illustrations, see \u003cem\u003eWunderkammer\u003c\/em\u003e Catalogue 90, number 11:\u003cbr\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/issuu.com\/heribert-tenschert\/docs\/katalog_90_vol_1_web?utm_source=chatgpt.com\"\u003eWunderkammer Catalogue 90, Volume I\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Atelier Zweig Rare Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46844681060540,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0736\/1285\/3436\/files\/Gaguin-1.jpg?v=1779314911","url":"https:\/\/atelierzweig.com\/products\/france-at-the-dawn-of-the-year-1500","provider":"Atelier Zweig Rare Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}