Description:
8°; pp. (12), 285, (1). Illustrated with numerous fine woodcuts by Jost Amman and Virgil Solis. Nineteenth century dark olive crushed morocco, delicately gilt, by Capé. A nice copy.First edition of the translation in Latin verse, based on the anonymous High German adaptation (Frankfurt, 1544) of the Low German poem (originally published in Lübeck, 1498). In his introduction, Schopper ascribes the High German version to Beuther. Brunet IV, 1222; Graesse VI, 82; Goedeke II, p. 106.
Reynard appears first in the medieval Latin poem Ysengrimus, a long Latin mock-epic written ca. 1148-1153 by the poet Nivardus in Ghent, that collects a great store of Reynard's adventures. He also puts in an early appearance in a number of Latin sequences by the preacher Odo of Cheriton. Both of these early sources seem to draw on a pre-existing store of popular culture featuring the character. In 1174, the first branch or chapter of the Roman de Renart appears, written by Pierre de St. Cloud (though in all French… Read More