ESTIENNE, Charles. [with] BAIF, Lazare de. [and] TESLIO, Antonio.

A charmingly-bound sammelband of four Latin works, in two first and two very scarce editions. Although the first three works may be considered ‘the first children’s books’ or ‘the first books produced specifically for the entertainment (unlike schoolbooks) as well as the edification of a juvenile readership’ (Schreiber, ‘Estiennes’, 50, 1535 ed.), they were also read, as here, by adults wishing to know more. The younger brother of the famous printer Robert Estienne, Charles (1504-64) was a physician who made important discoveries in the field of anatomy. Eventually following the family’s business, with a focus on popular, didactic works, he became royal printer in 1552. He wrote and edited influential works for the educated middle classes, which appeared in Latin, Italian and French. ‘De re hortensi’, on herbs for vegetable gardens, is concerned with the enclosure of suitable land, the types of herbs which grow spontaneously or need cultivating, ornamental ones used to embellish arbours, and the various garden areas subdivided by kinds of plants (e.g., ‘coronalis’, ‘odorata’ or ‘olitoria’). It concludes with a Latin-French vocabulary. The second and third were written by the humanist Lazare de Baïf (1496-1547). ‘De re vestiaria’ is an entertaining work on countless types of clothing (both civil and military), head- and footwear, each with their Latin and French names and a brief historical context. For instance, ‘crepida’, slippers or sandals, are highlighted for the noise of the heels, like clogs, and are said to be called ‘pianelle’ by Venetian nobles. The subject of ‘De vasculis’ is unusual—the meaning and function of vases. It covers their history, materials (e.g., gilt, brass or glass like ‘the excellent, much celebrated from the city of Murano near Venice’) and functions (for drinking, keeping wine or cooking). The last work, on colours, was written by Antonio Telesio (1482-1534), first published in 1528. ‘The most extensive lexicon of colour terms of its time, taken from Latin and Greek sources spanning some 1,100 years’ (Osborne). It describes 12 basic colours, and for each the work provides a historical account and several related names, which were not always only used for colours (e.g., ‘flammeus’ was used to describe the sun).

Claude le Roy was probably a young student, as he glossed several Greek words across the four works. Another early annotator, interested in alchemy, wrote a page of text on the scents of the planets, connected to their alchemical symbols (e.g., Venus has a ‘rosy’ scent). The C17 physician Joannes Guenebaldus was the author of ‘Le Réveil de Chyndonax’ (1621), describing a stone he found on his Dijon estate, which he thought of Druidic origin. He also probably wrote the verse ‘Les Roys, Enfants du Ciel’, probably from Jean de la Taille’s (d.1607)’s ‘Histoire des singeries de la Ligue’.