GUY DE TOURS (Michel Guy, dit).

Les Premières œuvres poétiques et souspirs amoureux. Paris, Pour Nicolas de Louvain, 1598. In-12, red morocco, small gilt motif in the corners and Arabic cartouche in the center, ornate spine, interior lace, gilt edges (Binding circa 1880). A rare first edition of the poetic works of Guy de Tours, whose poems are mainly inspired by love and reflect his passion for Petrarch. It is proverbially rare, says J. P. Barbier-Mueller, who adds that the copies sold poorly and were put back into circulation, as they were, with a new title dated 1602. Dedicated to Roger de Bellegarde, grand écuyer de France, it is divided into seven books and comprises 482 pieces, under the titles Souspirs amoureux, Mignardises amoureuses, Meslanges and Épitaphes. These include a series of 29 anatomical blazons (Pourtrait de son Ente) and 2 pieces addressed to Ronsard roy des poetes françois. The fifth book ends with Le Paradis d'amour, dedicated to the Nymphs of Tours, a poem praised by Viollet-le-Duc in which Guy de Tours pleasantly names and praises the city's most beautiful women. Very attractive, unsigned binding. The copy has a few slightly short leaves, the foliation of some of them having been cut by the binder's knife; but, as J. P. Barbier-Mueller pointed out, who had not hesitated to acquire it despite its weak margins, this is not the kind of book one can hope to find, more beautiful, while waiting a few more years. J. P. Barbier-Mueller, IV-2, n°52 ("Probably Guy's collection is destined to remain, for ever, the prey of bibliomaniacs, rather than lovers of fine verse"). - Picot, Rothschild, n°2948. - Viollet-le-Duc, I, pp. 315-316. - Diane Barbier-Mueller, Inventaire..., n°387.