Adonis is an epic poem that the author composed in 1658 for Nicolas Fouquet.
Extremely rare original edition in morocco of the time«
de « the most remarkable poetic work of Jean de La Fontaine ».
« La Fontaine’s poetic work includes (considering only what matters)
a few compositions, of which’Adonis’ is the most remarkable; a novel mixed with verse,
‘The Loves of Psyche’ ; les ‘Fables’ and ‘Tales’. » (Rev. Jean-Pierre Chauveau).
Paris, 1669.
Provenance: Marquise de Gambais, with armorial bookplate.
La Fontaine, Jean de. The Loves of Psyche and Cupid. [Followed by:] Adonis. Poem.
Paris, Claude Barbin, 1669.
In-8 of (12) ff. and 500 pp. Full red morocco, gilt frame on boards, spine finely gilt with small flower decoration, decorated cuts, marbled gilt edges. Binding de of the time.
170 x 110 mm.
Extremely rare original edition in morocco of the time of « the most remarkable poetic work of La Fontaine ».
Tchemerzine, III, 878-879; Rochambeau, p.591 no.1.
« The two poems by La Fontaine are here in the original edition ». « Adonis » is one of La Fontaine’s first works, composed twelve years earlier. « A light and charming work, with a preciosity that, at times, rises to the most exquisite poetry ».
« La Fontaine’s poetic work includes (considering only what matters) a few compositions, of which Adonis is the most remarkable; a novel mixed with verse, the Loves of Psyche; the Fables and the Tales. » (Rev. Jean-Pierre Cheveau).
The Loves of Psyche… are dedicated to the Duchess of Bouillon, who was the poet’s patron after the disgrace of Nicolas Fouquet (1615-1680).
« The story of Love and Psyche is undoubtedly one of the most charming myths of antiquity and perhaps the purest jewel of Alexandrian poetry. »
« There is Racine before Racine (in La Fontaine), foreshadowed in the verses of Adonis ». (Paul Valery).
« We will speak of Adonis here, although the poem was not printed until 1669. But, more than ten years earlier, it had been presented to Fouquet. ‘When I conceived the idea, I had more imagination than I do today. I spent my whole life practicing this genre of poetry that we call heroic: it is assuredly the most beautiful of all, the most flowery, the most susceptible to embellishments, and of those noble and bold figures that make a separate language…’ By heroic, he means epic and mythological. This poem of 600 verses, being short, ‘properly called deserves only the name of idyll’, sings the loves of Venus and Adonis, after Ovid, with memories of Virgil, Homer… and the cavalier Marin. The author declares having consumed in the embellishment of this poem almost all the stock of figures he had gathered from reading the Ancients and a few moderns.
Pysche is a charming work whose theme, taken from Apuleius, appears only as a reading made by a supposed author to three of his friends. This author is, under the name of Polyphile, La Fontaine himself. As for the others, one wants to see Racine, Molière and Boileau in them; but the vision is not distinct, and it is debated… But the Preface of Psyche is in our eyes a document of great literary importance, whose simplest examination entirely ruins the idea of a lazy and negligent La Fontaine. Even, we see nowhere more clear admissions of the cost of caring about form, such precise considerations on the work of writing, and on the choice of a ‘kind of writing’ appropriate to the effect one wants to achieve. This remarkable text is not known well enough. » (Jean-Pierre Chauveau).
According to modern criticism reproduced at the beginning of this analysis, four works by La Fontaine count: The Fables, the Tales, Adonis, The Loves of Psyche.
Adonis and Loves of Psyche, here in the original edition, are extremely rare in morocco of the time.
Jacques Guérin could not procure such a copy and presented in his famous sale on March 29, 1984, besides the Fables and Tales, less important texts: Collection of Christian poetry, Odes for Peace, Poem on the captivity of Saint Malc, The Florentine, The Eunuch.
Original edition preserved in its precious red morocco of the time.
Tchemerzine only cites two copies bound in morocco of the time: Jules Lemaître et Lignerolles.
The Schiff Mortimer , identical to this one, was sold for 75,000 FF (11,500 €) on December 11, 1984, 37 years ago. (Ref., identique à celui-ci, fut vendu 75 000 FF (11 500 €) le 11 décembre 1984, il y a 37 ans. (Ref. One Hundred Precious Books, no. 57).
Provenance: Elisabeth-Catherine Devin, Marquise de Gambais with armorial bookplate. Clément-Charles-François de La Verdy, Marquis de Gambais, lord of Neuville, of Raconis, etc., son of Clément-François, lawyer at the Parliament, and of Elisabeth-Jeanne Mahieu, born in Paris in 1720, became a counselor at the Parliament of Paris, General Controller of Finances in 1763, Minister of State, honorary member of the Academy of Inscriptions and Fine Letters; he stayed little in the ministry and retired to his estate of Gambais, near Montfort-L’Amaury; during the Revolution, he was arrested and executed on November 24, 1793, he had married on August 23, 1751, Elisabeth-Catherine Devin.
