STRAPAROLA Giovanni Francesco Les Facecieuses nuicts. Avec les Fables & Enigmes, racontees par deux ieunes Gentils-hommes, & dix Damoiselles. Nouvellement traduictes d’Italien en François par Jean Louveau. [Avec :] Le Second et dernier livre des Facecieuses nuicts [traduit par Pierre de Larivey].

Baudrier, III, 443 ; Sibylle von Gültlingen, XII, pp. 215-216, n° 1441 & 1442.

A fine edition of these tales in translations by Jean Louveau and Pierre de Larivey. An inspiration to Charles Perrault and the Italian Giambattista Basile – the master of Neapolitan Baroque fables – Straparola was the precursor of the literary fairy tale, and his Nights include early versions of Beauty and the Beast and Puss in Boots. Published in Italy between 1550 and 1555 by Giovanni Francesco Straparola (c. 1480-1558), these facetious tales – both saucy and fantastic – were written in the spirit of the Decameron and are among the prose masterpieces of the late Renaissance.

The main interest of these Nuits françaises is the version of the second book by Pierre de Larivey (1541-1619), an experienced translator and adaptor from Champagne, who wrote comedies admired by Sainte-Beuve and influenced Molière and Regnard.

A slightly short-margined but delightful copy in a lovely binding by Lortic.

Provenance: Henri Bonnasse, with his bookplate.