61 - ALAMANNI (Luigi).

ALAMANNI (Luigi). [Gyrone il cortese] [Paris], [Regnault et Claude Chaudière], [1548]. In-4, 180 ff. unbound. Lacks the 8 introductory leaves including the title. Slight scattered foxing, margins of last few pages slightly foxed. Rare complete first edition of this rewriting in verse of the Arthurian prose novel "Gyron le Courtois" (printed c. 1503), commissioned by François I from his Italian poet and used for French political propaganda in Italy. The poem, appreciated well into the 16th century and compared to "Amadis", went through five partial editions between 1501 and 1534. In a lengthy preface addressed to Henry II, Alamanni once again solicited royal support and, for a sovereign who loved chivalry and tournaments, recounted the origins of these practices and the institution of the knights errant of the Round Table. The edition was reprinted in 1549 by Comin da Trino in Venice (Brunet I, 126 ""Bonne édition qui a été imprimée sous les yeux de l'auteur""; Renouard 78.).