Product Overview & History
Published in 1769, this compact French anthology gathers epigrams and madrigals from the age of Clément Marot through the eighteenth century. Such collections preserved the polished wit, lyric grace, satire, and courtly sentiment that made these concise poetic forms enduring elements of French literary culture.
The book retains an especially attractive period binding in full calf leather. Five raised bands divide the spine into gilt-decorated compartments, with floral and foliate tools surrounding the gilt title and volume designation. Marbled endpapers and red page edges complete the presentation, giving the volume the warm, richly finished appearance associated with a well-appointed eighteenth-century French library.
Its most compelling feature is its provenance. The front endpaper carries the blue Ex Libris de Cayrol stamp and a signed manuscript note by Louis Nicolas Jean Joachim de Cayrol. Cayrol identifies the work as being by Sautreau de Marsy and adds a numbered bibliographical reference, most likely to material associated with Antoine-Alexandre Barbier, the eminent French librarian and bibliographer. The inscription turns the book from a handsome surviving anthology into a documented object of nineteenth-century collecting and bibliographical study.
Collector's Notes
This volume brings together the qualities that make early French books rewarding to own: an original calf binding, decorative gilt work, marbled papers, red page edges, literary significance, and identifiable scholarly provenance. The Cayrol inscription and bibliographical note provide a direct connection to the history of collecting and library scholarship, giving the book an individuality that ordinary copies do not possess.
It is a particularly appealing choice for a collection of French literature, Enlightenment culture, historic bindings, ex libris material, or books with distinguished provenance. Compact yet visually rich, it also displays beautifully on a desk, in a bookcase, or within a cabinet of antiquarian volumes.
