Contemporary red morocco - Lot 435

Contemporary red morocco MARGUERITE d'ANGOULÊME, Queen of Navarre L'Heptameron ou histoire des amans fortunez des nouvelles de très-illustre et très excellente Princesse Marguerite de Valois, royne de Navarre. Remis en son vray ordre, conçus au paravant en sa première impression, dédié à très-illustre & très-vertueuse Princesse Jeanne, Royne de Navarre, par Claude Gruget, parisien. Paris [Hollande], Bessin, 1698. 2 volumes small in-12 : 18f., 528pp., 2f. / 480pp., 3f. ; 2 allegorical frontispiece titles by J. Van de Viane). Handwritten bookplate Arnauld et Mitford 1836. Contemporary red morocco, ornate ribbed spine, tan titles and endpapers, double gilt fillet on covers, gilt fillet on edges, inner gilt roulette, blue endpapers, lightly rubbed, gilt edges. Fine reprint of the original text (Brunet III, 1417). L'Heptaméron, an unfinished, posthumous collection by Marguerite de Valois-Angoulême (1492-1549), sister of François I and Queen of Navarre through her marriage to Henri II d'Albret, consists of seventy-two short stories, narrated and discussed by different characters. Love (carnal love, deception and mischief) is the main subject of the work. The saucy tales of debauched monks and priests bear witness not only to medieval anticlericalism, but also to Marguerite's evangelical thinking. The debate over the perfect lover is also addressed.