Early French Edition of the First European Novel
Celestine Tragicomedie. Traduit d'Espagnol en Francois. Où se voyent les ruses & tromperies, dont les maquerelles usent envers les fols Amoureux. Dernière édition.
Rouen: Théodore Reinsart, 1598.
La Celestine Tragicomedie. Traduit d'Espagnol en Francois. Où se voyent les ruses & tromperies, dont les maquerelles usent envers les fols Amoureux. Dernière édition. Rouen: Théodore Reinsart, 1598.
Full Description:
[ROJAS, Fernando de]. La Celestine Tragicomedie. Traduit d'Espagnol en Francois. Où se voyent les ruses & tromperies, dont les maquerelles usent envers les fols Amoureux. Dernière édition. Rouen: Théodore Reinsart, 1598.
Early edition of a French translation. Translated from the Spanish to French by J. de Lavardin. Lavardin first translated this work in 1577 or 1578. Twelvemo (5 1/2 x 3 1/8 inches; 140 x 80 mm). [6], 248 [i.e. 246] leaves. Pagination skips two leaf numbers but collates complete. Title-page with engraved printer's device. Engraved initials and head and tail pieces. We could only find two other copies on Rare Book Hub.
Full contemporary limp vellum. Yapp edges. Previous owner's old in signature dated 1650 on front fly leaf. Manuscript note citing acquisition at the "Vente D'Edraguach" in 1767 on front pastedown. Previous owner's bookplate to front pastedown. A few leaves with a very mild dampstainng to top margin. Overall a very good copy.
“Often considered the first European novel, La Celestina was profoundly influential in the development of European prose fiction and is valued by critics today as much for its greatness as literature as for its historical significance” (Encyclopedia of Literature, 222).
"'If Cervantes had never been born', says Menendez y Pelayo (Origines de la Novela), 'Celestina would be the greatest imaginative work produced in Spain.' Gerald Brenan (Literature of the Spanish People) makes an even higher claim for this single production of the Spanish-Jewish lawyer, Fernando de Rojas. Placing it above all other Spanish prose works prior to the middle of the 19th century, he affirms that it is 'not only the first European novel, but one of the greatest'. It certainly is a novel, although it is written in dramatic form." (William Salloch).
"Jacques de Lavardin was a lord in Plessis-Bourrot, squire and noble of the king of France, known for his translation of two works in French: the Celestine from Fernando de Rojas... A first translation in French from the Celestine had already been published from Galliot du Pré (printed from Nicolas Cousteau) in 1527. The adaptation of Jacques de Levardin in 1577 was republished several times."
"Originally published in 16 acts as the Comedia de Calisto y Melibea (1499; Comedy of Calisto and Melibea) and shortly thereafter in an expanded version with 21 acts as the Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea (1502), the work has been popularly known since its publication as La Celestina after its chief character, the bawd who serves as the go-between for the young lovers Calisto and Melibea. Celestina’s deeply explored personality dominates the plot, ostensibly tragic, of the uncontrolled passion of the lovers, which ends in disaster after its consummation. Calisto is killed in a fall from the ladder to Melibea’s window; Melibea commits suicide. Celestina’s coarse humour and ironic commentary, however, undercut the tragic potential of the situation; the vivid depiction of her character overshadows the philosophical significance of the work in its theme of the vanity of the human struggle against the forces of fate. Authorship of the work, which was published anonymously, is generally attributed to Fernando de Rojas (c. 1465–1541), a converted Jewish lawyer about whom little else is known. La Celestina was widely imitated and reprinted in Spanish more than 100 times by the mid-17th century. It was translated into many languages, including English (The Spanish Bawd, 1631), French, Italian, German, Hebrew, and Latin. Often considered the first European novel, La Celestina was profoundly influential in the development of European prose fiction and is valued by critics today as much for its greatness as literature as for its historical significance." (Britannica).
HBS 69425.
$1,250.
Price: $1,250.00
Item #69425