HESTEAU (Clovis, sieur de Nuysement).
Ɵ Les Œuvres poétiques. Paris, Pour Abel L'Angelier, 1578. In-4, red morocco, jansenist, interior lace, edges gilt on marble (Trautz-Bauzonnet).
First edition of the poetic works of Clovis Hesteau, sieur de Nuysement, satirical and hermetic poet native of Blois who seems to have been part of the social circle of the marshal of Retz, frequenting her famous "salon vert de Dictynne".
These works are among the rarest poems of the 16th century. They are dedicated to François d'Alençon, duke of Anjou, to whose service Hesteau officiated as secretary.
The collection is divided into three books and includes nearly 140 pieces.
The first one contains the Gémissemens de la France, a poem in alexandrines in which the poet describes the "proud past of France which opens with the sack of Rome by the Gauls and compares these luminous memories to the discord reigning on a country where one kills oneself"; one also finds there a pindaric Ode to Monsieur, on his victories, in the style of Ronsard.
The second book gathers, under the title Amours, 106 pieces among which a long series of sonnets, some imitated from Petrarch. Various poems occupy the last book which is dedicated to the princess of Atry.
Among the introductory pieces, let us point out a Greek piece by Nicolas Goulu, Dorat's son-in-law, a beautiful sonnet by Jean Davy du Perron (signed I. D. P.) which starts with "Antres obscurs, torrents impetueux...", a Latin piece by Jean Dorat, etc.
Some light foxing, otherwise a very good copy.
From the libraries of E. Huillard (I, 1870, n°425), Montgermont (1876, n°354) and Octave de Béhague (I, 1880 n°608).
J. P. Barbier-Mueller, IV-2, n°56. - Balsamo & Simonin, n°28. - Diane Barbier-Mueller, Inventaire..., n°393.
