RANGOUZE (Pierre de). Lettres héroïques aux princes du sang - Lot 468

RANGOUZE (Pierre de). Lettres héroïques aux princes du sang et aux grands de l'Estat. [Following:] Lettres missives. Paris, Au dépens de l'autheur, 1647. In-8, [94] f., 298 p., lavaliered morocco, ornate ribbed spine, boards decorated with a Du Seuil-style gilt fillet frame and arms in the center of the boards, guilloche-covered edges, gilt edges (modified 17th century binding). The work opens with a frontispiece portrait of Anne of Austria, the copy bearing the letter to the Queen Regent as its first dedication. Brunet reports that there are several copies, never really complete, with varying title pages and practically all different. Published on a self-publishing basis, Rangouze varied the composition of his copies ad infinitum, leaving the pages of the first part unnumbered and unadvertised. This enabled Rangouze to satisfy those to whom he offered a copy in order to obtain some gratuity or advantage. The copies bound with the coat of arms that we know of (Rossini 2010, Alde 2013, Oger-Blanchet 2018) are all incomplete in their second part with leaves likely to displease: this copy is no exception to the rule and 6 leaves have been removed before binding: we go from page 216 to 225 and then from page 278 to 283. Madeleine de Scudéry and Tallemant des Réaux testify to the fact that Rangouze went so far as to have his bookbinder place at the head of the collection the heroic letter specifically addressed to the person to whom he was offering it, thus flattering his pride. Brunet tells us that the oldest collection he has seen bears the date 1644. Ours is dated 1647, but it seems that an attempt was made to transform the 7 into 8 to force the novelty. Similarly sensitive to the appeal of novelty, Rangouze chose to compose almost all his work in bâtardes, which Pierre Moreau had just successfully used for his Imitation du Christ (1643). The copy bears the arms of Louis Henri de Bourbon-Condé (1692-1740), 7th prince de Condé, duc de Bourbon, duc d'Enghien and duc de Guise, peer de France, duc de Bellegarde and comte de Sancerre, prime minister of Louis XV. As the gold of the arms is slightly brighter, it is still possible that they were applied after the Du seuil decorations, which may themselves have been applied after the binding, whose spine decoration is clearly 17th-century. Binding slightly rubbed on the spine ends, ex-dono in pencil on the flyleaf dated 1902, light halo on the lower part of several leaves, leaves absent as already mentioned, a few marks and other minor defects. (Brunet, IV, 1102)