BOAISTUAU, Pierre and BELLEFOREST, Francois de, etc.

by Pierre and BELLEFOREST, Francois de, etc Boaistuau

£9,500 · Offered by Sokol Books

A lovely set of this beautifully printed and illustrated popular work, a collection of stories of Monsters and extraordinary events. The original 40 stories by Boaistuau in volume I of this set were first published in 1560 and were hugely popular, leading to many further editions with additions by other authors, culminating in this set, with the addition of 15 stories in volume II by Claude de Tesserant, 17 in volume III by Bellesforest, 11 in volume IV by Rod Hoyer, 8 stories in vol V translated from the Latin of Arnauld Sorbin by Belleforest, and 6 anonymous stories (by I. D. M.) in the final volume. Boaistuau and Belleforest s popular reworking of these tales, and their other translations, had tremendous influence in England, especially on the playwrights of the Elizabethan period, Shakespeare included, who often used their stories as the basis for their works. The first manuscript of this work, now in the Wellcome Library, was dedicated and presented to Elisabeth I by Boaistuau. In the winter of 1559/60 Pierre Boaistuau, a French popular writer, set off for England bearing a book that he hoped to lay before the young Queen Elizabeth, newly installed on the throne of England. This book, later entitled Histoires Prodigieuses which can be loosely translated as Wondrous Tales had not yet been published. It had been handwritten by a professional scribe in a fine Italic script, and was dedicated to The Most Illustrious, Most Excellent and Most Virtuous Princess Elizabeth, by th

• Binding: Hardcover

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