François Béroalde de Verville- L’Histoire Veritable, ou Le Voyage des Princes Fortunez. Divisée en IIII. Entreprises.- 1610

THE 1610 FIRST EDITION OF WHAT MAY BE CALLED THE FIRST DYSTOPIAN NOVEL, THE FIRST GREAT ORIENTAL NOVEL IN FRENCH LITERATURE (CERTAINLY THE FIRST STEGANOGRAPHIC NOVEL, AND A MASTERPIECE AMONGST ALCHEMICAL AND HERMETIC NOVELS, AS WELL AS IMAGINARY VOYAGES) – A CLASSIC OF RENAISSANCE LITERATURE. COMPLETE EXAMPLES SUCH AS THIS, INCLUDING THE ENGRAVED TITLE, THE FOLDING MAP AND THE PLAN, APPEAR ON THE MARKET ONLY TWO OR THREE TIME IN ANY GIVEN DECADE. THE 1610 FIRST EDITION OF BEROALDE DE VERVILLE’S ‘LE VOYAGE DES PRINCES FORTUNEZ,’ ONE OF THE GREAT DESIDERATA OF FRENCH LITERATURE, THE ONLY COMPLETE EXAMPLE OFFERED IN RECENT DECADES OF THE EXTREMELY RARE 1610 FIRST EDITION OF BEROALDE DE VERVILLE’S DYSTOPIAN ALCHEMICAL MASTERWORK, ‘LE VOYAGE DES PRINCES FORTUNEZ,’ PRINTED AT PARIS IN OCTAVO IN 1610 FOR PIERRE CHEVALIER, ADORNED WITH THE FINE ENGRAVED TITLE (FRONTISPIECE) , THE LETTERPRESS TITLE, THE FOLDING WOODCUT MAP, THE ‘PLAN DU PALAIS DES SECRETS’ (‘PLAN OF THE PALACE OF SECRETS’) , AND THE FOUR LEAVES SIGNED EEe1-4, COMPLETE IN ALL RESPECTS, SOLIDLY IN VERY GOOD CONDITION INTERNALLY AND EXCELLENT CONDITION EXTERNALLY, AND BOUND IN 20TH CENTURY ENGLISH QUARTER-CALF OVER MARBLED BOARDS. The volume may be referenced in Tchemerzine I at p. 676. In 2011 a copy lacking the folding map and the four leaves signed EEe1-4 (the last of which is the ‘Plan du Palais des Secrets’) sold at a prominent Parisian auction house for EUR 20,160. The full engraved title reads as follows: “Le Voyage des Princes Fortunez, Oeuvre steganographique, receuilli par Beroalde / Avec privilege du Roy. / L. Gaultier sculp. 1610. ” The full letterpress title reads as follows: “L’Histoire Veritable, ou Le Voyage des Princes Fortunez. Divisee en IIII. Entreprises. Par Beroalde de Verville. A Paris, / Chez Pierre Chevalier, au mont Sainct Hilaire. / c. Ic. Ic. c. x [1610] . / Avec Privilege du Roy. ” OF ‘LE VOYAGE DES PRINCES FORTUNEZ’ (‘THE VOYAGE OF THE FORTUNATE PRINCES’) Offered here is the extremely rare 1610 first edition of this great novel interspersed with passages of poetry (much in the manner of Sidney’s ‘Arcadia’) , in which the characters are given anagrammatical names (thus ‘Xyrile’ for ‘Elyxir,’ ‘Quimalee’ for ‘Alquemie,’ and ‘Mexifurrece’ for ‘Mercure Fixe’) . According to Paul Lacroix, in his ‘Recherches bibliographiques’ of 1880, it is thought that book was suppressed by the authorities shortly after publication, explaining the extreme rarity of the book generally and resulting in many copies having their titles excised (making the present copy a very great rarity, since it is entirely complete with the engraved title, letterpress title, folding map of the ‘Grand Continent de Moso,’ and the ‘Plan du Palace des Secrets’ (‘Plan of the Palace of Secrets’)) . Fundamentally, Beroalde’s great novel tells of the ‘Fortunate Princes,’ their voyage to the Great Continent of Moso and neighbouring islands, and their adventures there. It is a steganographic novel in the sense that it delights in the revelation of hidden things. It is an alchemical novel in its characters, puns, anagrams, and themes. It is an imaginary voyage to an unknown island, following ‘Utopia’ and where the anticipating ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ and many other works. It satirizes Lucian of Samosata in its claim to be a ‘true history,’ and it satirizes Trithemius in its explicit claim to be a ‘steganographic’ novel. It is hermetic in its learning, polyglot in its interest, and the first great French oriental novel because of the destination of the fortunate princes. Above all this, it is a dystopian novel because the Great Continent of Moso is not an imaginary best-place, but much closer to the reverse. According to Frank Lestringant in ‘Le livre des iles’ (‘The Book of Islands’) : “Having exercised, during his entire life, the lucrative profession of ‘medicin chimique’ [‘chemical,’ but really ‘alchemical,’ ‘physician’] , that is to say alchemist-doctor, Beroalde illustrates himself by the lyrical poetry of the ‘Souspirs amoureux’ (1583) [‘Loving Breaths’] , by translation – ‘Le Songe de Poliphile’ [‘The Dream of Polyphily’] of Francesco Colonna – and naturally the alchemical novel. It is to this category that ‘L’Histoire veritable, ou le Voyage des Princes Fortunez’ (1610) [‘The True History, or the Voyage of the Fortunate Princes’] may be assigned, but this enigmatic and prolific work does not allow itself to be circumscribed by one simply definition. For example, the title of ‘Histoire veritable’ pays homage to Lucian. Moreover, Beroalde’s introductory notice to ‘beaux esprits’ [‘beautiful minds’ or ‘wits’] invites a ‘steganographic reading’ that some have proposed to apply to Rabelais. In every case the expectations in this way created in the reader are preparations for an equal number of deceptions. ‘Le Voyage [des Princes Fortunez] ’ guards its secret jealously, if there is indeed such a secret. As Terence Cave has shown, its strategy is constantly deceptive: ‘In ‘Le Voyage des Princes Fortunez,’ there are promises of anamorphosis, partial anamorphoses, approximations of anamorphosis; but the definitive anamorphosis promised by the preface, and sought through the entire length of the voyage, will never be realized. ’ As the introduction to a 2005 edition of this great work states: “One finds in this novel a king whose soul wonders from body to body, until a traitor usurps his; a queen who takes revenge terribly on those who denigrated him by forcing them to eat each other; a beauty assassinated who turns into a flower-woman, rich with that liquor of eternity that all seek to conquer; a Fatal Hand that every day surges out of the sea to seize a man and drag him to the bottom of the ocean … The unfortunate lovers who allow themselves to be vitrified in order to partake more fully of the image each loves, and the lovers who by one tear create an eternal fountain. Mirrors and optical illusions, anamorphoses and enigmas make of the ‘Voyage des Princes Fortunez’ a labyrinthine novel in which the reader could wander endlessly if not on guard. But such is the price to pay for experiencing one’s own freedom, because, as Beroalde says, ‘Without freedom, there is no pleasure. ’ The reader must therefore make way amongst the thousand possible roads, becoming that ‘curious one’ for whom everything is a source of invention, and learning finally the restorative power of love, if the reader would accede to the loving and joyful knowledge of the nymphe Xyrile [Elyxir] . ” OF FRANCOIS OF BEROALDE DE VERVILLE François Béroalde de Verville (Paris, 27 April 1556 – 19–26 October 1626, Tours) was a French Renaissance novelist, poet and intellectual. He was the son of Matthieu Brouard (or Brouart) , called "Béroalde", a professor of Agrippa d'Aubigné and Pierre de l'Estoile and a Huguenot; his mother, Marie Bletz, was the niece of the humanist and Hebrew scholar François Vatable (called "Watebled") . At the time of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, his family fled to Geneva (1573) , but Béroalde returned to Paris in 1581. During the civil wars, Béroalde abjured Calvinism and joined the factions around Henri III of France (he may also have served in the army) . In 1589 he moved to Tours (the French parlement fled here from 1589-1594) , and became chanoine(canon) of the cathedral chapter of Saint Gatien, where he remained until his death. Béroalde had close ties to the intellectual and creative milieus of the late 16th century and early 17th century (including Pierre de L'Estoile, Roland Brisset, Guy de Tours) and was under the protection of two conseillers du roi (Pierre Brochard and René Crespin) . His writings cover topics as varied as history, mathematics, optics, alchemy, medicine, painting, sculpture, love, silk. . . He wrote in both verse and prose, and in all manner of tones (satirical, moral, spiritual, philosophical, political) . Béroalde represents a literature of transition from the Valois court (and the generation of "La Pléiade") to the Bourbon court of Henri IV and the baroque, and (like his contemporary Nicolas de Montreux) he attempted to compete with the translation of foreign masterpieces by the creation of original works in French. His first works were contributions to a work on mathematics and mechanics (1578) and to a history of blazons (1581) . His numerous historical and philosophical works include: Les Recherches de la pierre philosophale on the philosopher's stone (1583) ; Dialogue de la vertu (1584) ; L'idée de la republique (1584) ; a translation of Justus Lipsius (1592) ; De l'ame et de ses excellences(1593) , De la sagesse (1593) ; La Pucelle d'Orleans on Joan of Arc (1599) ; a history of silk worms (1600) ; a history of Herodias (1600) ; and a French edition with commentaries of Francesco Colonna's. Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (1600) . His poetry includes: Les Apprehensions spirituelles, poemes et autres oeuvres philosophiques (1583) ; love poems, Les Soupirs amoureux (1583) ; a contribution of verses to the translation of La Diane by Jorge de Montemayor (1592) ; spiritual poems, La Muse celeste (1593) ; and a translation of Jeremiah's Book of Lamentations, Les Tenebres (1599) . Béroalde published several long fiction works: Les Avantures de Floride, histoire françoise in 4 tomes (1593-1596) , Le Cabinet de Minerve (1596) , an unfinished novel Le Restablissement de Troye, avec lequel parmy les hazards des armes, se voyent les amours d’Æsionne (1597) , Le Voyage des princes fortunes (1610) , and Le Palais des curieux (1612) . With their elaborate plots, multiple characters and adventurous situations, these adventure novels show the inspiration of the Hispano-Portuguese chivalric adventure novel (like Amadis of Gaul) and of the ancient Greek novel (like the work of Heliodorus of Emesa or Achilles Tatius) , but they also straddle the line between fiction and philosophical or encyclopedic writing, and frequently veer off into discussions of moral phenomena or in...