66 - [VIGENERE (Blaise de)].

[VIGENERE (Blaise de)]. The Images or Paintings in Flat Painting by the Two Greek Sophists Philostratus and the Statues of Callistratus. Translated into French by Blaise de Vigenere. […] Revised and corrected from the original by a learned scholar of our time versed in the Greek language, and reproduced in engraving in this new edition. With epigrams on each of them by Artus Thomas, Sieur d’Embry. Paris, Claude Sonnius, 1629. Large folio, fawn sheepskin, ribbed spine, title label (19th-century binding, heavily worn, scuffed, cover detached). [1] engraved title leaf (damaged, restored), [8] preliminary leaves, 921 pp., [1] p. (privileges), [46] pp. (table of contents). (Pagination gap between pages 832 and 835; no pages missing.) Old water stains that have eroded the margins in places. Significant loss of text on the second leaf of the dedication. Galleries of verses. New illustrated edition of this masterpiece of French Baroque book art (along with *Le Temple des Muses*), first published in 1614. Beautiful intaglio-engraved illustrations, including a frontispiece title page, 60 fine plates engraved by Jaspar Isac, Léonard Gaultier, and Thomas de Leu—some based on works by Antoine Caron, Primaticcio’s collaborator at Fontainebleau—and 2 copper-engraved vignettes in the text, along with numerous woodcut headbands, initials, and fleurons. Holes in the engravings on pp. 90, 191, 369. Significant cut-out in the engraving on p. 179 and in that on p. 504. Pages 269–270, 421–422, 497 through 500, and 551–552 are missing. In 1578, Blaise de Vigenère published his unillustrated translation of Philostratus the Athenian’s *Images*, a third-century text blending symbolism, Hermeticism, and artistic theory. Inspired by 64 ancient paintings from a gallery in Naples, these descriptions are enriched by a second author who discusses 17 additional works. The book opens with a treatise on the art of painting and concludes with *The Statues of Callistratus*. Each image is accompanied by epigrams by Artus Thomas d’Embry, bridging the gap between ancient art and the modern perspective. Handwritten bookplate on the title page (Collège Bordeaux).