Hélisenne de CRENNE (Marguerite Briet, known as). Les Angoysses Douloureuses qui procedent Damours: composees par Dame Helisenne. Première [seconde ; tierce] Partie. De Crenne. - Ample narration faicte par Quezinstra, en regrettant la mort de son compaignon Guenelic, Et de sa Dame Helisenne après leurs deplorables fins, ce qui se declarera avec decoration du stille poetique. S. l. n. d. 4 parts in a small in-8 volume, caramel calf decorated in the Du Seuil style with double cold frames, gilded fleurons at the corners and gilded senestrochère at the center of the boards, 5-rib spine decorated with small gilded flowers ( Period binding). Brun, 162 // Brunet, II-414. I. (64f.) / A-H8 // II. (72f.) / AA-II8 (the last blank) // III. 34f. / AAA-DDD8, EEE2 // IV. (8f.) / a8 // 99 x 161 mm. Rare Lyon edition, probably published shortly after the original. Copy from the library of Marcus Fugger with his handwritten bookplate. Little is known about Hélisenne de Crenne, a woman of letters from the first half of the 16th century, so much so that until the 19th century it was thought that she was the pseudonym of a famous male author, without identifying which one. We now know that Marguerite Briet, born around 1510 in Picardy and dying around 1560, married Philippe Fournel, seigneur Du Cresne, before separating from him in 1552. It was therefore under her married name Crenne that she published her novels and epistles, including Les Angoysses douloureuses is the most important. First published in Paris in 1538, this sentimental novel, a precursor of the genre inherited from romances of chivalry and courtly love, is in four parts. It recounts the unhappy adventures of Hélisenne, in love with the young Guénélic, whose husband locks her up to keep her from this chaste and forbidden love. To free her from her prison, Guénélic and his friend Quézinstra embark on a journey that leads to many warlike adventures. Having tracked down the beautiful woman, they free her and flee, but, pursued by the troops, find refuge in a forest where the two ill-fated lovers breathe their last. The novel closes with a Quézinstra's epilogue. The novel enjoyed great popularity and was reprinted several times. Our edition is probably the second, the original having appeared in Paris in 1538 with Janot. It bears the mark of the Lyon printer Denis de Harsy on all three titles, depicting Daedalus and bearing the motto " Ne hault. Ne bas. Mediocrement", while the fourth part of the work has no title page. It is illustrated with 4 lettrines and 62 charming woodcuts in the text (31, 17, 12 and 2 respectively), in fact 44 engravings, 11 of which are repeated. One of the woodcuts, repeated at the head of the first three parts, depicts Hélisenne de Crenne writing at her desk. The others depict scenes typical of courtly love (couples conversing while playing music, women in a castle, etc.) and romances de chevalerie (battle scenes, ships, etc.). Finely engraved, some of these illustrations were also used for the Histoire du chevalier doré by the same printer at the same time. Our copy comes from the library of Marcus Fugger's library and bears his ink signature on the flyleaf. Marcus Fuggerus. The binding, made for this bibliophile, is perfectly characteristic of the "simple" bindings The binding, made for this bibliophile, is perfectly characteristic of the so-called simple bindings found in his library, in calf decorated with a double cold frame, angular fleurons and a central senestrochere with a bird. Marcus Fugger (1529-1597), head of the Norndorf branch of one of Germany's wealthiest families, whose origins go back to Jean Fugger, a master weaver in Graben in the mid-14th century, devoted himself to the study of science and the search for the Philosopher's Stone. He was also a banker in Augsburg, translated a work by Nicephorus Calixtus and wrote a book on horse breeding. He built up a first-rate library. He loved fine bindings and Romanesque works, particularly in French, of which he owned a large number. It was most likely his grandson Marquart who disposed of the library to his brother-in-law Count Ernst of Oettingen-Wallerstein, around 1650. The library subsequently remained in this family. Today, part of it is housed at the Munich State Library, part at Augsburg University and part in Vienna. The remainder was sold at four auctions in Munich between 1933 and 1935. Books from the Fugger collection are highly sought-after. Bel exempla