LA TAILLE (Jean et Jacques de).

Ɵ Œuvres poétiques. Paris, Fédéric Morel, 1598. 5 parts in one volume in-8, dark brown morocco, triple gilt fillet, gilt coat of arms in the center, smooth spine decorated, gilt edges (G. Plumelle). Collective edition of the complete poetic and dramatic works of these two brothers: Jean de La Taille, a soldier-poet considered one of the great writers of the 16th century, and Jacques, his brother, who died of the plague at the age of 20. It is made up of unsold copies of the first editions of 1572-1573, with titles renewed at the date of 1598. Title printed in red and black; the pieces in verse are printed in italics, and the prose in Roman. At the end of the first part, a woodcut portrait of Jean de La Taille. The volume is divided into five parts. It contains the two comedies of Jacques de La Taille, Alexandre et Daire, first published posthumously in 1573 (cf. Dumoulin, Morel, n°207 and 208), and the treatise Manière de faire des vers en françois, here dated 1573 and thus in its original edition (cf. Dumoulin, n°216). The works of Jean de La Taille are more consequent. They include his great tragedy, Saul le furieux, as well as its continuation, known under the title La Famine, plays (La Mort de Paris, Alexandre, Le Courtisan retiré, and Le Combat de Fortune et de Pauvreté) and two comedies imitated from Ariosto (Les Corrivaux and Le Négromant). The copy, formerly in a very damaged 18th century calf binding, was entrusted to Georges Plumelle who bound it with the arms of the collector. Upper corner of the T1 leaf restored. Brown stains on leaves B7 to C2 of the second part. Slight wetness in the margin of some leaves. J. P. Barbier-Mueller, IV-3, n°25. - Picot, Rothschild, n°3317 (for the "edition" of 1572-1573). - Diane Barbier-Mueller, Inventaire..., n°447.