MARGUERITE DE NAVARRE. L'Heptameron des Nouvelles de tresillustre et tresexcellente Princesse Marguerite de Valois, Royne de Navarre. In-4, contemporary vellum, laces (renewed and missing). Brunet, III-1416 // De Backer 247 // Tchemerzine-Scheler, IV-378. (4 f.)-210 f. (misc. 212)-(2 f.) / ã4, a-z4, A-Z4, Aa-Gg4 / 152 x 232 mm. Third edition, rare. This is the second to contain all 72 short stories. Marguerite de Valois-Angoulême, elder sister of François I, was born in 1492 and, like him, was raised at the court of Louis XII. Her first marriage was to Charles IV of Alençon. Widowed on his death shortly after the disaster of Pavia, she subsequently married Henri II d'Albret, becoming Queen of Navarre. At the French court, and later at the court of Navarre, she surrounded herself with artists, and was a particular patron of writers, notwithstanding the religious quarrels that troubled the period. Cultured and well-educated, she was herself a successful practitioner of literature and poetry, including her Heptaméron and her Marguerites are her most famous collections. She died in 1547. An early form of the Heptaméron appeared anonymously in 1558 under the title of Histoires des Amans fortunez and contained just 67 short stories. In 1559, Claude Gruget published a second edition, with five additional short stories and the definitive title of Heptaméron. A third edition, our own, appeared the following year, shared by three booksellers, Gilles Gilles, Vincent Sertenas and Benoist Prevost. It is illustrated with a handsome engraved title and large, beautifully ornamented lettering. Vellum soiled, stained, endpapers and laces renewed. Small holes in the title reaching the first 10 leaves, wetness in quires K and X and leaves S4 and T1, angular loss to leaf G1, and leaves D1 and D4 1.5 cm shorter in the lower margin. Provenance: B. de Wassenaer (handwritten bookplate on title), Frédéric, baron de Keverberg, château de Kessel (handwritten bookplate dated 1856 on verso of title).