{"product_id":"the-first-roman-de-la-rose-printed-in-roman-type","title":"The First Roman de la Rose Printed in Roman Type","description":"\u003ch3\u003eClément Marot’s Modernized \u003cem\u003eRoman de la Rose\u003c\/em\u003e in a Beautiful Derome le Jeune Binding\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e[Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meung]. \u003cem\u003eLe Rommant de la Rose nouellement Reueu et corrige oultre les precedentes Impressions.\u003c\/em\u003e Paris, Galliot du Pré, 1529.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe celebrated 1529 edition of the \u003cem\u003eRoman de la Rose\u003c\/em\u003e revised and modernized by Clément Marot, court poet to Francis I, and the first edition of the text ever printed in roman type (“lettres rondes”). Illustrated with 51 graceful woodcuts entirely newly designed for the edition and preserved in an elegant eighteenth-century red morocco binding by Derome le Jeune, this copy once belonged to the important French collector Charles Cousin.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eEdition \u0026amp; Bibliographic Information\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eΠ8 a–z8 \u0026amp;8 τ8 A–Z8 aa–bb8 cc4 = 8 leaves, 403 numbered leaves, 1 leaf. Title printed in red and black with faint pale-red ruling throughout.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIllustrated with 51 woodcuts (32 distinct compositions), including the printer’s device of Galliot du Pré on the final verso. Small octavo (137 × 89 mm).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is the second edition of Clément Marot’s famous modernization of the \u003cem\u003eRoman de la Rose\u003c\/em\u003e, first published in 1526. The original medieval poem by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meung had already become linguistically antiquated by the early sixteenth century, despite its enormous prestige as France’s great allegorical love poem. Marot’s task was therefore not to rewrite the work completely, but to make it readable and attractive again for Renaissance audiences.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMarot was uniquely positioned for the undertaking. As court poet and entertainer to Francis I, and deeply immersed in the traditions of courtly love poetry, he was ideally suited to rejuvenate the great medieval romance. His modernization successfully gave the work “a new lease of life,” as Bourdillon later acknowledged, leading to four editions between 1526 and 1538.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003ePhysical Description \u0026amp; Binding\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEighteenth-century red morocco binding by Derome le Jeune on smooth spine richly gilt with fillets and floral tools. Covers with multiple gilt border frames, gilt board edges, gilt dentelles, pale blue silk endleaves, and entirely gilt edges throughout.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSlight traces of dampstaining barely visible at the lower margins in places; first two leaves and leaves G7–8 slightly smaller. Otherwise an exceptionally broad and attractive copy, notably preserving the generous margins around the printed marginalia which are frequently cut close in other examples.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe copy was admired already in the nineteenth century for precisely these qualities. In the Charles Cousin sale catalogue of 1891, the auctioneer praised it as:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Exemplaire superbe haut de 138 mm et très large”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eand remarked with relief that even Derome — notorious for trimming books — had “religiously respected the margins of the volume.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eGalliot du Pré and the Renaissance Reinvention of the \u003cem\u003eRoman de la Rose\u003c\/em\u003e\n\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePublisher Galliot du Pré approached the edition with remarkable sophistication. Rather than merely reissuing a medieval text, he consciously reshaped the \u003cem\u003eRoman de la Rose\u003c\/em\u003e for Renaissance readers through typography, format, illustration, and editorial modernization.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMost significantly, this became:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“the only edition of all the twenty-one in roman type”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eaccording to Bourdillon.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe shift from gothic type toward elegant Antiqua letterforms visually aligned the medieval romance with contemporary Renaissance printing aesthetics. At the same time, the compact octavo format followed the newly emerging fashion for “small and dainty books.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe 51 woodcuts likewise represented a major artistic departure. Though inspired partly by earlier Vérard illustrations, they introduced a much more modern visual language with increased attention to perspective, shading, movement, and graceful composition. Bourdillon considered them evidence that:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“the modern spirit has prevailed.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eClément Marot and the End of Medieval France\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe edition occupies a fascinating transitional moment between medieval and Renaissance France. Marot himself embodied many of the tensions of the age: admired court poet, literary innovator, suspected Protestant sympathizer, prisoner, exile, and one of the defining poetic voices of the French Renaissance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis modernization of the \u003cem\u003eRoman de la Rose\u003c\/em\u003e therefore became more than a textual revision. It was an attempt to preserve a foundational medieval work by translating it into the language, visual culture, and reading habits of sixteenth-century France.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe success of this strategy was immediate. Through the combined effect of updated language, modern typography, elegant illustration, and portable format, the medieval romance once again became fully intelligible and desirable for Renaissance readers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eProvenance\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVerso front flyleaf with monogram stamp “A. L.” and monogram ex-libris with the motto:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“C’est ma toquade”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ebelonging to the collector Charles Cousin (1822–1890); his sale, Paris, 6–11 April 1891, lot 238.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eLiterature\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBM STC French 288; Bourdillon Q; Brun 241; Brunet III, 1174f.; Davies, \u003cem\u003eFairfax Murray French\u003c\/em\u003e, no. 329; Ebert 19314; Graesse IV, 262; Lonchamp, \u003cem\u003eFrançais\u003c\/em\u003e II, 194; Panzer VIII, p. 126, no. 1834; Rahir 619; Tchemerzine VII, 245.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor a fuller scholarly description and illustrations, see \u003cem\u003eWunderkammer\u003c\/em\u003e Catalogue 90, number 77a:\u003cbr\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/issuu.com\/heribert-tenschert\/docs\/katalog_90_vol_2_web?utm_source=chatgpt.com\"\u003eWunderkammer Catalogue 90, Volume II\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Atelier Zweig Rare Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46837773566140,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0736\/1285\/3436\/files\/Roman-de-la-Rose-1.png?v=1779157083","url":"https:\/\/atelierzweig.com\/products\/the-first-roman-de-la-rose-printed-in-roman-type","provider":"Atelier Zweig Rare Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}