[CHRISTINE de PISAN]. Sensuit lepistre de Othea deesse de prudēce moralisee en laquelle sont cõtenus plusieurs bons et notables enseignemens pour toutes personnes Voulans ensuivir les vertues et fuir les vices... Small booklet in-4, ivy-green morocco, triple cold fillet, 6-rib spine, interior lace, gilt edges ( Bauzonnet-Trautz). Bechtel, 142/C-316 // Brunet, Supplément I-259 // Tchemerzine-Scheler, V-205. (33f. on 34, the last blank missing here) / A4, B8, C4, D8, E4, F6 / 40 lines on 2 columns, goth. car. / 128 x 188 mm. Third edition and second under this title, the text having previously been published in Les Cent histoires de Troye. Born in Venice in 1363 and dying around 1431, Christine de Pisan came to France at the age of five when her father took up the post of secretary to King Charles V. Married at the age of fifteen, she lived among the splendors of the Court, but the death of her father and that of the King, her protector, forced her to earn her own living. Widowed at the age of twenty-five and the mother of three children, she embarked on a literary career to support herself, composing numerous works in prose and verse. At the request of the Duke of Burgundy, she wrote a Vie de Charles V (Life of Charles V), arguably the finest of her works, many of which were not published until the 19th century. She was one of the first women to live by her pen. The Epistle of Othea goddess of prudence... was first published around 1500 in the volume entitled Les Cent hystoires de Troye. It was subsequently published in two separate editions, the first in Rouen, which Bechtel dates between 1507 and 1518, and the present Parisian edition, which can be dated between 1518 and 1520. This edition is listed by Brunet, Tchemerzine and Bechtel, and these three eminent bibliographers cite only this copy. Title in red and black with a large lettering and a woodcut depicting Othea deesse et le messager, a woodcut on folio A2 depicting a couple and announcing the beginning of the work and 2 small woodcuts on the verso of the last folio F5. Some titles at the beginning of the volume are printed in red ink. No other copies have been found in major private collections or public libraries, and this appears to be the only known copy. A fine copy, despite a small crack at the top of one spine. Provenance: Ambroise Firmin-Didot (June 6-15, 1878, no. 140) and Édouard Moura (December 3-8, 1923, no. 211), then sold in Paris on June 14, 1950.