Le theatre de P. Corneille. Revue et corrigé par l'auteur

Collective edition, partly original. It is illustrated with 3 frontispiece titles and 23 figures by François Chauveau. The three frontispiece titles dated 1660, the title page of the second volume with the date 1664, the other two title pages dated 1660. In the second volume, the privilege is also dated 1664, while the other two volumes have the privilege dated 1660. The second volume is therefore the 1664 reprint, identical in every respect to the 1660 edition, with the exception of the collation of the preliminary pieces. The three discourses as well as the examinations of each piece appear for the first time.

Binding in full 20th-century chocolate morocco signed Alix at the bottom of the endpapers. Spine with raised bands decorated with 4 grotesque panels, author, title, volume number, and date in gold. Large and rich interior border. Triple fillet border on the boards. Gilt edges. Minimal traces of rubbing. Volumes of great purity, with paper of beautiful freshness. Slipcases edged with chocolate morocco covered with old laid paper.

Magnificent copy.

It was in 1660 that Corneille undertook a new revision of his theater, having previously carried out a first revision in 1654. The author also desired a slightly larger format for his new edition, making the volumes more symmetrical and harmonious, and placing at the head of each a Discourse specially written for the edition, and above all, analyses, "Examens" for each of his pieces. In a letter to the Abbé de Pure, dated August 25, 1660, Corneille confesses the trouble he had in publishing this new edition, particularly in writing the three Discourses: "I am, he says, at the end of a very painful work on a very delicate subject. I have treated in three Prefaces the main questions of the poetic art on my three volumes of Comedies [...]"

The 1660 edition constructed by Corneille constitutes a singular and new editorial device because it constitutes a form of pedagogy of the creation and reception of dramatic art. The Discours, which will not be the subject of separate editions during Corneille's lifetime, are presented at the beginning, one per volume, in an order that goes from the constituents of the dramatic poem (Discours de l’Utilité et des parties du Poème dramatique) to the definition of the major dramatic genre (Discours de la Tragédie) and then to its rules (Discours des trois Unités). The Examens replace the dedications, notices to the reader, and prefaces from Mélite to Œdipe, and are presented grouped with the Discours in the preliminary pages of the volumes. Thus, while the Discourses and Examinations precede the pieces, it is indeed Corneille's dramatic work that is proposed as an example and illustration of the theory articulated in the preliminary pieces.

It is the texts of this edition that will serve as a reference for the establishment of future editions of Corneille up to the present day.