APULÉE

♦ The Love of Cupido and Psiché mother of voluptuousness, taken from the five & sixth books of the Metamorphosis of Lucius Apuleius philosopher. Nouvellement historiée & Exposée en vers François. Without place [Paris, Léonard Gaultier], 1586. Engraved suite in-8, blond calf, small chain border, spine decorated with a repeated gilt umbilicus and a long green morocco title-piece, inner lace and decorated edges, gilt edges (Binding circa 1790). A very charming first edition suite of 33 burin engravings by Léonard Gaultier (1561-1635) who was, with Thomas de Leu (1560-1612), one of the great printmakers of his time. It consists of a title in an architectural frame with the effigies of Venus and Psyche, and 32 numbered and monogrammed mid-page compositions printed on the front of the leaves, each surmounting an eight-pointed figure that serves as a caption. The last plate bears the date of 1586, a date that will be removed for the reprint. The traditional illustration of the myth of Psyche and Cupid dates back to the School of Raphael, and is engraved on glass by the master "au Dé" for Anne de Montmorency at the Château d'Écouen, from 1542 to 1544. Each scene is then captioned with eightains that are also found in the suite on wood published in Paris, by Jeanne de Marnef, widow of Denis Janot, in 1546. These eightains are the work of three poets: Claude Chappuys (plates 1 to 10), Antoine Hérouët (plates 11 to 20) and Mellin de Saint-Gelais (plates 23 to 30). These attributions are given by Émile Picot (Catalogue Rothschild, n° 2567) according to a manuscript kept in Chantilly incomplete of plates 21 and 22, 31 and 32 which are still not assigned. The compositions by Léonard Gaultier are interpreted copperplate copies of the woodcuts from the 1546 edition. With their elegant figures, they are reminiscent of the mannerism of the Fontainebleau School propagated by Antoine Caron (1521-1599), whose son-in-law the engraver was perhaps. A handwritten note on the binding attributes the illustration to Raphael. A very wide-margined copy (190 x 135 mm), from the libraries of Hippolyte Destailleur, architect and collector of books and engravings (1891, n°1298: it is specified that the copy comes from the Beckford sale, I, 1882, n°337), and Eugène Paillet. A very fine edition, with some foxing and small rubs to the binding.