GUÉROULT, Guillaume. [PALAEPHATUS.] Le Premier livre des Narrations Fabuleuses, avec les discours et la Vérité et histoires d’icelles ... Auquel avons adjousté aucunes œuvres poetiques du mesme Traduc

£12,000 · Offered by Henry Sotheran Ltd

GUÉROULT, Guillaume. [PALAEPHATUS.] Le Premier livre des Narrations Fabuleuses, avec les discours et la Vérité et histoires d’icelles ... Auquel avons adjousté aucunes œuvres poetiques du mesme Traducteur. Lyon: Robert Granjon . 1558. Small 4to. Late 19th-century dark blue Jansenist morocco by Chambolle-Duru, spine lettered directly in gilt, gilt turn-ins, gilt edges, marbled endpapers; ff. [4], “lix” ( i.e. lx), woodcut printer’s device to title, woodcut head- and tailpieces; very light rubbing to spine and corners; very subtle, small restoration to lower outer margins of ff. *1-e4, h1-3, p1-4 (not affecting text), otherwise in excellent condition, small bookplate “Ex Libris Jean Bourdel” loosely inserted. First edition, very rare, of the first French translation of Palaephatus by the Protestant writer Guillaume Guéroult, one of the earliest books printed entirely in Civilité type, this copy handsomely bound by Chambolle-Duru. Palaephatus (Ancient Greek: Παλαίφατος) is thought to be the pseudonym of a late fourth-century BC Greek author, known solely for the treatise On Incredible Things ( Περὶ ἀπίστων ). Surviving only in part, the work offers rationalised explanations of Greek myths. Each of the fifty-two brief sections follows a consistent structure: first, the myth or legend (“the fable”) is presented and then rejected as implausible; finally, a rational explanation (“the history”) is proposed, often interpreting the tale as a distorted recollection of historical events.

• Binding: Hardcover

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