206 - THE SEVEN WISE MEN OF ROMME. No place, no date [in the colophon]: Paris, Michel le Noir, n.d. [1505–1515]. Small Gothic quarto, dark green morocco leather, blind-stamped fillet, ribbed spine with gold lettering, gilt head, untrimmed, slipcase (Sangorski & Sutcliffe, London).

THE SEVEN WISE MEN OF ROMME. No place, no date [in the colophon]: Paris, Michel le Noir, n.d. [1505–1515]. Small Gothic quarto, dark green morocco leather, blind-stamped fillet, ribbed spine with gold lettering, gilt head, untrimmed, slipcase (Sangorski & Sutcliffe, London). An extremely rare Gothic edition, decorated with 42 woodcuts, including a full-page woodcut on the title page. It is not listed at all in the electronic database *The Seven Sages of Rome*, which is exclusively dedicated to the study of this book and catalogs its editions and manuscripts. Only one copy of this edition is known to exist in public collections, held at the Mazarine Library (this copy is part of a collection bound by Niédrée) (see WorldCat and CCFr). This prose novel traces its origins to *The Book of Sinbad*, a complex, multi-layered narrative of Indian or Persian origin, likely written in Sanskrit, then translated into Persian and Arabic (8th century) before spreading throughout medieval Europe. The popularity of this book is as great as that of the Fables of Bidpai. Each taking turns to tell a story in which the treachery and malice of women are demonstrated, the Seven Sages of Rome—to whom Emperor Poncianus had entrusted the education of his son Diocletian—succeed in saving the life of the prince, who had been accused by the empress, his stepmother, of attempting to tarnish her honor (Brunschwig auction catalog). The work was first printed in Cologne shortly before 1475 under the title *Historia septem sapientium Rome*; the first French edition dates from Geneva (1492) according to Bechtel, except for the Seven Sages and GW databases, which attribute the first edition to the Parisian edition by Pierre Le Rouge, whose publication date indicated by Bechtel (1500–1510) has been revised to an earlier date, no later than 1489. A very fine copy, the only one cited by Bechtel (S-17). From the libraries of Edmée Maus and Gianni de Marco. Restoration in the lower margin of folio E4 and along the edge of folio K8. A few slight foxing spots and faint marginal water stains. Expert: Mr. Dominique Courvoisier