LE CARON (Louis).

La Poésie. Paris, Pour Vincent Sertenas, 1554. In-8, midnight-blue morocco, gilt foliage medallion at center, ornate spine, interior lace, gilt edges (Trautz-Bauzonnet). Partly first edition of this poetic collection, published ten months after La Claire (see previous lot). Of its 143 pieces, 94 are unpublished and 49 are taken from La Claire, often with changes in verse. Among them is a long poem in decasyllables, entitled Le Démon d'amour (ff. 28v°-38). Almost a year after the publication of La Claire, Le Caron decided to publish all the verses written for his friend in a collection entitled La Poésie. [...] far from being a literary tomb dedicated to mourning the departed, [the work] sang of a young woman still alive, a tenderly loved friend [...]. In the end, the poet decided to publish his poems as if he had presented them to the girl while she was still alive (N. Ducimetière, Mignonne..., pp. 174 and 177). La Claire and La Poésie are the only two poetic works published by Le Caron, who then turned exclusively to law and philosophy: they are both rare. Handwritten bookplate faded at the bottom of the title. Old handwritten note in the margin of folio 67 v°, almost faded. A very fine copy, from the libraries of Chaponay (1863, no. 309), Édouard Turquety (1868, no. 137), Bancel (1882, no. 273) and Édouard Moura (1923, no. 259). J. P. Barbier-Mueller, IV-3, no. 33. - Diane Barbier-Mueller, Inventaire..., n°458.