BONNEFONS, Jean. Basia. Tam Latino, quam Gallico Idiomate ed - Lot 34

BONNEFONS, Jean. Basia. Tam Latino, quam Gallico Idiomate edita. Published in Leiden (Lugdunum Batavorum) by Nicolas Hercules in 1659. Format in-12 (124 x 73 mm). Cream vellum, smooth mute spine, red edges. 4 ff.n.ch., 251 pages, pages, one title page engraved by J. Hackius as frontispiece. Binding rubbed and soiled, upper headband gone with leather missing, corners slightly dulled. In Latin and French. Published almost fifty years after the author's death, this edition of the complete poetic works of Jean Bonnefons follows the one, revised and expanded by the author himself, published in Paris by Du Breuil in 1610. The first part contains Bonnefons' own works (often in Latin), while the second part contains a motley collection of translations and imitations of Bonnefons' poems, in both French and Latin, by Gilles Durant, sieur de la Bergerie. These poems are mostly amorous, almost erotic, evoking passion, regret and the immortality that love can bring through the figure of the kiss. The title-frontispiece, engraved by Johannes Hackius, is more than evocative in this respect: it shows a female figure that can only be Venus, her foot on a tortoise, pointing to Love, her son, a couple who are already kissing. Two handwritten bookplates, one on the white endpaper signed Thomas Cooke, and another illegible one on the title page. A good, fresh copy, a small symbol of the revival of neo-Latin poetry in the Republic of Letters.