Jean CHAPELAIN

First edition? Title page with sphere device. Elzevier edition published at the same time as a Parisian edition by Augustin Courbé, illustrated. It is not clear why the Elzevier edition would be the original, as nothing could have prevented Chapelain from publishing a work in Paris that the entire literary world was awaiting; it would be more coherent to consider that the 1656 Courbé edition is the first and that the Leiden edition was composed from it.
Full red morocco binding, late 19th century, signed A. Bertrand. Jansenist spine with raised bands. Gilt title. Wide inner decorative border. Light rubbing to headcaps and joints at head. Handsome copy.
Literary critic and translato