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a brown book sitting on top of a table next to a white backgroundan old book with a drawing of a man and woman holding swords
ALDE

171 - MONTEMAYOR (Jorge de). *La Diane* by Georges de Montemayor, …
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Estimate €2,000 - €2,500
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Description
MONTEMAYOR (Jorge de). *La Diane* by Georges de Montemayor, newly translated into French. Dedicated to Mademoiselle de Villemontée, Philippe de La Barre. Paris, Robert Fouet, 1623. In-12, brown morocco, framed with a triple gilt rule, decorated spine, gilt inner edge, gilt edges (Champs). Engraved illustrated title page, 7 ff., 1194 pp.  First edition of Antoine Vitray’s translation of *La Diana*, the seminal work by the Castilian poet and musician of Portuguese origin Jorge de Montemayor (1520–1561), first published in 1559, probably in Valencia, and subsequently revised in the 1561 edition published in Valladolid.  This novel forms the cornerstone of the Spanish pastoral novel. It was translated very early on into German, English and French. *La Diana* is the main source for Honoré d’Urfé’s *L’Astrée*: “*La Diana*, written in refined Castilian, with its Portuguese influence evident only in a touch of saudade (narcissistic variations on solitude and regret) characteristic of the Lusitanians, constitutes, through both its plot and its lyrical passages, one of the pinnacles of the Renaissance novel”, Daniel Devoto. Three illustrated title pages and 17 full-page plates by Crispin de Pas, engraved by I. Picart. A fine copy. From the Lucien Allienne library (1985, I, no. 93), with bookplate. Lever, p. 136.
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About the sale Xavier de Planhol Library – The Origins of the Novel
Auction location
Auction time 09/30/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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