Oeuvres de Theophile, divisées en trois parties. La première contenant l'immortalité de l'âme, avec plusieurs autres pièces. La seconde, la tragédie de Pirame & Thisbé, & autres meslanges. Et la troisiesme, les pièces qu'il a faites pendant sa prison. Dernière édition

New edition. 3 title pages. Although numerous collective editions of Viau were produced, early collective editions such as ours are rare. Brunet gives 1626 for the first collective edition (which proves very difficult to find), the 1629 edition would have been based on that of 1626; it is expanded with the letter against Balzac.
Half brown glazed calf binding from the late 19th century with corners. Spine with raised bands decorated, roulette on the bands. Title and date in gilt (binder's error with the date 1529 at foot). Edges gilt. Light rubbing. Handsome copy.
After a long period in purgatory and although he was widely read during his lifetime, Viau was rediscovered by Théophile Gautier who placed him in the Pantheon of poets. This baroque poet was severely criticized during the classical period. Besides his poetry, one will note the very free translation, in verse and prose, of Plato's Phaedo on the immortality of the soul, and the famous tragedy Pyramus and Thisbe. His licentious collection Le parnasse satyrique led him to prison and to walk barefoot before Notre-Dame to be burned, but his sentence was commuted to perpetual exile. His condemnation for moral outrage caused great stir among the intellectuals of the time.
Bookplate of Raymond Smith.