Cymbalum mundi ou Dialogues satyriques sur differens sujets

Revised and enhanced edition, illustrated with a frontispiece, an allegorical composition on the title page, and four full-page engravings by Bernard Picart. An allegorical figure within the text, several headpieces and tailpieces.

Contemporary mottled brown sheepskin binding, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt motifs, red morocco title label, gilt roulette to the board edges, marbled paper pastedowns, red edges. Corners and headcap rubbed, some scuffing and losses at the joints, trifling soiling to a few leaves. Manuscript ex-libris "Messieurs Falconet et Lancelot" and ink date "8bre [October] 1785" on the title page. Manuscript note in ink on a front flyleaf, before the half-title.

This work, attributed to Bonaventure Des Périers and published under the pseudonym Thomas Du Clévier in the sixteenth century, is one of the most discussed and mysterious texts of the Renaissance. Composed of a letter and four satirical dialogues recalling the work of Lucian of Samosata, it brings together humans, gods, and animals. Although scholars have linked Bonaventure Des Périers to the Protestant circle of Marguerite de Navarre, his Cymbalum mundi appears to mock Protestants and Catholics alike. Published in Paris in 1537 by Jean Morin, the work was quickly censored at the request of François I. In July 1538, the Sorbonne's faculty of theology found that the work contained no explicit error of faith, while nonetheless recommending its suppression. The work was nevertheless reprinted as early as 1538 in Lyon by Benoist Bonyn. Long overshadowed by other notable works of the Renaissance, Cymbalum mundi found new life in the nineteenth century, drawing the attention of Charles Nodier, who linked Bonaventure Des Périers to François Rabelais and Clément Marot.

Between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, the work was reprinted twice more, both editions produced by the same editor, Prosper Marchand. Falsely located in Amsterdam, they date from 1711 and 1732.

In the preface to our 1732 edition, Prosper Marchand offers valuable information on the work, summarises its editorial vicissitudes, and attests to the difficulty of obtaining a copy of the original, censored edition. He laments the inaccuracies that marked his first edition of 1711, established from a manuscript copy of the text of the 1538 Lyon printing, then the only version accessible. He emphasises the superiority of his new edition, based this time on the original Paris edition of 1537, corrected and enriched with an analytical commentary on the text.

A pleasing copy of a curious Renaissance work, attractively presented in this Enlightenment-era edition.