DU PEYRAT (Guillaume).

Ɵ The Poetic Essays. Tours, Jamet Mettayer, 1593. In-12, soft vellum with covers (Binding of the time). First edition of this poetic collection by Guillaume du Peyrat (1563-1643), a poet from Lyon who was appointed at the beginning of the following century chaplain to King Henri IV. Dedicated to Anne d'Anglure, baron de Givry, marshal of the French light cavalry, it is beautifully printed in italic type, the title placed in a woodcut frame with cut-out leather and allegorical figures. The Essais poétiques contains more than 400 pieces, among which are two books of Amours, an imitation of Ariosto, as well as numerous elegies, odes, stanzas, songs, epitaphs, etc. A large part of the verses is dedicated to his love for a certain Diane: In his first trip to Paris, and therefore young, du Peyrat was in love, and this feeling inspired him the greatest number of his poems. It was in a time of civil war, and events often separated him from his mistress, after whom he ran from Paris to Touraine, from Touraine to Brie. All these races, these crossings, are described in the elegies of Peyrat with feeling, naturalness and elegance. His jealousy, his regrets, his waiting, are painted with a real charm (Viollet-le-Duc, Bibliothèque poétique, 1843, pp. 465-466). Without the last two leaves which are blank. Light brown spots. J. P. Barbier-Mueller, IV-5, n°19. - Picot, Rothschild, n°2945. - Diane Barbier-Mueller, Inventaire..., n°304.