Henri Estienne's Very Rare French Grammar, Just Two Copies at Auction since 1972

HYPOMNESES DE GALL[ICA] LINGUA . . . CL. MITALERII EPIST.DE VOCABULIS QUAE IUDAEI IN GALLIAM INTRODUXERUNT.

(ESTIENNE IMPRINT). ESTIENNE, HENRI.

([Geneva: Henri Estienne], 1582). 168 x 105 mm. (6 5/8 x 4 1/8"). 8 p.l., 215, [1] pp.; 2 p.l., 11, [1] pp. FIRST EDITION.

Fine dark green crushed morocco, gilt, by Lortic (stamp-signed on front turn-in), covers with intricate central arabesque, raised bands, spine panels with turnip tool, gilt lettering, densely gilt turn-ins, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Estienne device on title page. Renouard 149:2; Schreiber 210; USTC 65125. Text lightly washed, pressed, and resized, title page with overall slight soiling and darkening, a small handful of quires foxed (noticeable without being severe), isolated minor foxing elsewhere, but still a very decent copy internally, and in an unworn attractive binding.

In Schreiber's words, this is the "extremely rare first edition of Henri Estienne's practical French grammar, intended primarily for foreigners, but also for French readers; its emphasis is on correct pronunciation and orthography, with interesting observations on the various French dialects." It is followed by a short treatise by Claude Mitalier on words introduced into French from Hebrew by French Jews. In 1558, Henri's father Robert Estienne had issued a Latin version of his "Traicté de la grammaire françoise," translated by the young Henri and designed for the use of non-Francophone Protestants studying in Geneva. It did not sell well, and Henri had so many copies left that he attached the text at the end of some copies of this work. Our copy likely never contained this part, or it was left off when the book was rebound by Lortic in the 19th century. Pierre Marcellin Lortic (1822-92) apprenticed with the Gruel bindery before opening his own workshop in 1844. Over the next 40 years, he won numerous awards, became a preeminent Parisian binder, and was named a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. Schreiber was not exaggerating about the rarity of this work: since 1972, RBH records just two copies appearing at auction, this one selling in 2005 for €598. (ST19567-061)

Price: $1,250.00