1 / 2
Photo 1/2 du lotPhoto 2/2 du lot
OGER-BLANCHET

174 - EUSTATHE MACREMBOLITE – *Les Adventures amoureuses d’Ismène …
See original version (French)

Estimate €250
Sale commission
Description
EUSTATHE MACREMBOLITE – *Les Adventures amoureuses d’Ismène et d’Isménie*, a Greek tale by Eustathius, translated into French by Mr Colletet. Paris, Toussainct du Bray, 1625. In-8, (8) ff. (frontispiece titleplate engraved by Léonard Gaultier and one blank leaf included), 459 (3) pp., 18th-century red morocco binding, floral dentil decoration on the covers, ribbed spine decorated along its entire length without a title, gilt edges. LEVER 27. First edition of Guillaume Colletet’s translation. The first edition of this 12th-century Byzantine novel was published in 1617 by the scholar Gilbert Gaulmin, who was highly versed in Greek and Eastern languages, together with a Latin translation. In his preface, the young Guillaume Colletet acknowledges his debt to this translation, which he combined with the merits of Lelio Carani’s Italian translation of 1550. ‘Where their interpretations differ,’ he says, ‘I have followed the one that seemed to me the most refined and the most plausible.’ The young poet thus offered the public a version more in keeping with their tastes than the outdated translations by Jean Louveau (1559) and Jérôme d’Avost (1582)—the latter based solely on Carani—and, above all, at a time when *L’Astrée* was at the height of its popularity, for which the novel *Ismene and Ismenias* served as one of the sources. Léonard Gaultier’s exquisite frontispiece depicts a castle flanked by a garden laid out in quadrilateral flowerbeds that one might say were designed by Androuet Du Cerceau. The portico framing the composition was also sometimes found at the end of Renaissance gardens. The intricately crafted fountain, at the centre of the garden, evokes that marvellous fountain used to uncover the secret of one’s feelings, which plays a pivotal role in *L’Astrée*. It is worth noting that the opening of Eustathe’s novel gives prominence to the garden, where the hero can admire a gallery of allegorical paintings. The dedicatee, the Duke of Nemours, who from 1616 onwards was a great organiser of festivals and ballets, must surely have been touched by Colletet’s tribute.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
About the sale The Jean Demaux Collection – Part 2
Auction location
Auction time 09/16/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
You may also like