245 - PLUTARCH. The Lives of Illustrious Men, Greek and Roman, Compared with One Another by Plutarch of Chaeronea, first translated from Greek into French by Master Jacques Amyot, then abbot of Bellozane, and subsequently published in this second edition, revised and corrected in countless passages by the same translator...

PLUTARCH. The Lives of Illustrious Men, Greek and Roman, Compared with One Another by Plutarch of Chaeronea, first translated from Greek into French by Master Jacques Amyot, then abbot of Bellozane, and subsequently published in this second edition, revised and corrected in countless passages by the same translator... Second edition of this masterpiece of humanist prose, printed by the Parisian typographer Michel de Vascosan, in full, sturdy bindings. Paris, Michel de Vascosan, 1565. 2 folio volumes, each bound in full glazed honey-colored calfskin, spine richly decorated with raised bands and gilt metal tools, title label in red leather and volume label in brown leather, gilt roulette on the cuts and caps, red edges. 8 unnumbered folios, 1–334 numbered folios; 335–734 numbered folios and 26 unnumbered folios (table). Scuffs on the bindings, particularly at the joints, with incipient tears at the top and bottom; missing cap caps; a few stains. In Volume I, a small loss of leather on one rib and two small wormholes on the lower cover; peeling leather on the lower cover of Volume II. Rare foxing. Second edition, revised and corrected, of Jacques Amyot’s French translation, luxuriously printed by Michel de Vascosan. The version by the humanist Jacques Amyot (1513–1593) is a stylistic masterpiece. He softened, enriched, and modernized Renaissance French. Admired by Montaigne and heavily drawn upon by Shakespeare, Amyot’s Plutarch is considered by scholars to be one of the foundational texts of modern French prose. [Brunet IV, 738]. Precious handwritten annotations in ink by a 17th-century scribe. Short scholarly comments and additions in the margins of two major chapters: The Life of Themistocles, a model of political humanism (Volume I), and The Life of Marcus Crassus, the moral archetype of excessive ambition (Volume II). On the inside front cover of the first volume, a bibliophilic note in ink: “This 4-volume folio edition of Plutarch’s Works, translated by the naive and learned Amyot, is very beautiful, well condensed, and rare.” The last three lines were crossed out at the time. Modern bookplate: a neatly cut school label bearing the name “Simone Martin.” Beautiful copies, in sturdy 18th-century bindings.