215 - MARGUERITE OF NAVARRE. *The Heptameron, or Tales of Fortunate Lovers*.

MARGUERITE OF NAVARRE. *The Heptameron, or Tales of Fortunate Lovers*. A fine 1572 Lyon edition of the famous collection of short stories by Marguerite de Navarre (1492–1549), a masterpiece of Renaissance literature, preserved in its original binding. Lyon, Louis Cloquemin, 1572. In-16, full brown speckled sheepskin, ribbed spine decorated with fleurons and a gilt title, decorated edges, red speckled edges (contemporary binding). 812 pages and 6 folios, engraved printer’s mark on the title page, headbands, and initials. Binding rubbed, spine cracked, cap bands missing, hinges fragile, jaw split 7 cm on the front cover, rare water stains, page missing on the last leaf. A fine Lyon edition from 1572, featuring the text revised by Claude Gruget, who had restored the authentic text and the original structure organized by “days” following Pierre Boaistuau’s first truncated version, which contained only sixty-seven short stories. The *Heptaméron* is an unfinished collection of 72 short stories written by Marguerite de Valois (1492–1549), Queen of Navarre, a woman of letters, and grandmother of Henry IV. The work derives its title from the fact that the narrative unfolds over seven days, with the eighth day remaining incomplete. These texts, inspired by Boccaccio’s *Decameron*, were a great success upon their publication and were reprinted numerous times; the first, very incomplete edition was collated by Pierre Boaistuau (1517–1566) in 1558, nine years after the author’s death. According to Brunet, there were no fewer than three printings by Louis Cloquemin in Lyon (1572, 1578, and 1581). [Brunet, III, 1418] Ex-bibliotheca of the Fintray House Library on the front endpaper—a library located in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, which housed the private collection of the Forbes family of Craigievar. Well-preserved interior.