208 - FILLASTRE (Guillaume). The first [- second] volume of *La Toison dor*. Paris, François Regnault, 1516. 2 parts in one Gothic in-4 volume, brown calfskin with blind-stamped decoration, frame ornamented with fillets and scrolls, edges speckled with red (modern binding).

FILLASTRE (Guillaume). The first [- second] volume of *La Toison dor*. Paris, François Regnault, 1516. 2 parts in one Gothic in-4 volume, brown calfskin with blind-stamped decoration, frame ornamented with fillets and scrolls, edges speckled with red (modern binding). A very rare first edition of this great chivalric novel. It is printed in two columns for the bookseller François Regnault, whose typographic mark featuring an elephant adorns the title pages (see Renouard, no. 941). Remarkable woodcut illustrations, comprising approximately 75 engravings within the text in various formats, including about ten full-page engravings: the most famous of which depicts Jason fighting monsters to win the Golden Fleece, a copy of an engraving by Guillaume le Rouge for the edition of the *Bible des poètes* published by Vérard in 1498. (Bechtel, F-94; Brun, p. 188.) Guillaume Fillastre, Bishop of Tournai and advisor to the Dukes of Burgundy, served as chancellor of the Order of the Golden Fleece—newly established in 1430—from 1461 until his death in 1473. His work, which he dedicated to Charles the Bold, blends mythology and history and explores the various moral qualities that define the nobility of a good knight or prince, primarily the virtues of magnanimity and justice. In it, the author briefly recounts the story of Jason and the Argonauts, narrates the tale of Jacob, and discusses the “haulx”—virtuous and magnanimous deeds—of both the Christian houses of France, Burgundy, and Flanders, as well as other kings and princes from the Old and New Testaments. Among the figures mentioned are Alexander the Great, Seneca, Diogenes, Scipio Africanus, Plato, Darius, Charlemagne, Pepin the Short, and Charles V. Copy cited by Bechtel, from the Barbet Library (bookplate) (1932, no. 83). Old handwritten notation on the title page of the second volume. Repairs to the title page and a few leaves (with the loss of a few letters in the text and running title on leaves PP4–5–6 and QQ1; the last leaf has been entirely re-bound). Water damage in the upper margins of the quires; the first 6 are severely affected and have been restored. Text is missing (rewritten in pen) down to the wood on the verso of folio PP5. The title page of the first part is shorter and appears to come from another copy. Restored binding with a rebuilt spine and reused 16th-century covers. Appraiser: Mr. Dominique Courvoisier