Jean Racine-Antoine-Augustin Renouard copy.- Aristophanes. Aristophanis facetissimi Comoediae undecim. Comoediarum catalogum versa pagella indicabit, Paris, André Wechel, 1557.

 

Jean Racine-Antoine-Augustin Renouard copy.- Aristophanes. Aristophanis facetissimi Comoediae undecim. Comoediarum catalogum versa pagella indicabit, 11 parts in 1, collation: a-t⁴ u⁶ x-z⁴ &⁴ Aa⁴ Bb⁶ Cc-Zz⁴ &&⁴ AA-JJ⁴ KK⁶ LL-YY⁴, titles in Greek and Latin and with woodcut printer's device, text in Greek, woodcut decorative initials, Bb⁶, Hh⁴, KK⁶ and QQ⁴ woodcut printer's device verso otherwise blank, some extensive 17th century ink annotation (see note below), a few ff. ruled in red or black, lacking KK^3&4, general title and following f. foxed and lightly browned, Paris, André Wechel, 1557 bound with Gorris (Jean de) Scholia anōnymou tinos syggrapheōs, palaia te kai chrēsima eis ta tou Nikandrou Theriaka, collation: Aa-Ii⁴, title in Greek and Latin and with woodcut basilisk device, text in Greek, woodcut head-piece and decorative initials, a few small wormholes in text, Paris, Guillaume Morel, 1557 and a defective Morel Nicander, together 3 works in 1 vol., a few short tears, some water-staining / staining and spotting or mostly light foxing, lightly browned, marbled endpapers, 17th century speckled calf, gilt spine in compartments and with red morocco label, worn, but holding firm, housed in a modern cloth drop-back box, spine with light green morocco label, small 4to

*** An excellent association copy. The works of one of the greats of Greek classical drama in Aristophanes, owned by one of the leading writers of neoclassical drama in 17th century France in Jean Racine (1639-1699). The latter is best known for his plays Phèdre and Andromaque, both drawn from Greek mythology. Nathan Gross has shown that he had an excellent working knowledge of Greek, partly through his training at Port-Royal. The extensive annotations to Plutus, a large part of The Clouds, and a few leaves of The Assemblywomen are in the hand Jean-Baptiste Racine (1678-1747), the eldest son of the playwright (cf. Brunet 452). The volume was later owned by an important figure in the book world in Antoine-Augustin Renouard (1765-1853), bibliographer, book dealer and printer. 

Provenance: Jean Racine (small ink signature to general title); Jean-Baptiste Racine (his annotations); Antoine-Augustin Renouard (red book label and entry from his sale catalogue of 1854 [lot 1048] relating to this volume to verso of first front free endpaper); Michel Floréal Chasles (1793-1880), French mathematician and victim of French letter and document forger Denis Vrain-Lucas (bookplate to front pastedown, sold 1881).

Literature: See p.190: IV of Paul Bonnefon's 'La Bibliothèque du Racine' in Revue d'Histoire littéraire de la France, 5^th year, number 2, pp.169-219, 1898, in which he records the present copy, thereby affirming Renouard’s suggestion that the signature on the title is consistent with Racine’s own hand.