60 - CHARRON, Pierre. On Wisdom.

CHARRON, Pierre. On Wisdom. "The prettiest of the Elzevir women," according to Tchermezine. Leiden, Elzevier, 1646. Large 12mo, light calfskin, ribbed spine decorated with gilded panels, fillets, and fleurons, double fillet framing the covers. Title-page frontispiece, title page, 10 unnumbered folios (explanation of the frontispiece, dedication, preface, table of contents), 663 pp., (8) pages of tables. Top cap missing, spine creased and joints split, a few stains on the covers. A few foxing spots; a scraped-off bookplate in the margin of the frontispiece. First Elzevirian edition based on the Bordeaux edition, dedicated to Maximilian of Burgundy with his coat of arms printed on the dedication page. A fine printing introduced by a curious engraved frontispiece depicting four women chained to an allegory of wisdom, whose symbolism warrants three pages of explanation. Handwritten ex-dono inscription on the first endpaper dated 1746; the former owner mistakenly exchanged this edition for another. [Tchemerzine III, 262] A fine copy with clean interior pages.