RAPIN René Les Plaisirs du gentilhomme champestre. Augmenté du quelques nouveaux poèmes & épigrammes. Par N.R.P.

See Barbier-Müller, Mignonne, no. 78 (for the 3rd edition 1583) ; Brunet, IV, 1114 (note).

Second edition, very rare, no copy at the BnF. The French catalogue CCF locates one single copy and one copy of the second edition, both in Troyes.

Nicolas Rapin (1539-1608) was a humanist poet whose best-known collection of poetry is Les Plaisirs du gentilhomme champestre. Very popular from its first publication in 1575, the collection was reprinted many times between 1575 and 1710. “The celebration of the simple, wholesome pleasures of country life has been a recurring literary theme since Antiquity. In his Plaisir du Genthilhomme champestre, Nicolas Rapin, a magistrate from Poitou already known for his participation in the poetic games of the Grands jours de Poitiers, drew inspiration from Horace’s II Epode, which had been translated by Jacques Peletier du Mans” (see Barbier-Müller). The verses celebrate country life and the provincial nobility. One of the odes is dedicated to Jacques Auguste de Thou.

A very fine copy, well preserved.