RABELAIS, François
£2,950 · Offered by Sokol Books
An excellent copy of this Jean Martin printing of the works of Rabelais, with the fine woodcut bottle incorporating an ode to its virtues, most unusually in a contemporary English calf binding. It is most probable the work was shipped to England in sheets and bound here, giving intriguing insight into the market for Rabelais in England. Rawles and Screech give 11 editions of Rabelais that share the same format, with exactly the same collation as this edition, most attributed to Jean Martin, two to Jean Fuet, all with most probably false dates, though it is generally held they were printed between 1600 and 1630 or at least no later than 1637. Rawles and Screech (no. 91) indicate that this edition, characterised by having no date on either of the title pages, was printed after one with the imprint of 1607, (no. 87) but was certainly printed before 1637. These editions were printed clandestinely and were near identical copies one from the other. Many early edns. of the various parts of Rabelais' works do not state the printer or place of publication, or in a few cases give false information, owing to the ribald and in places anti-clerical subject-matter, which exposed his works to censorship: they had, for example, been on the papal Index since at least 1559. Due to the nature of their clandestine printing they were often cheaply and hastily printed and they were popular works, usually well read, so good copies such as this one are particularly rare. Rabelais was, for generation
- Binding: Hardcover
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