Tory, Champfleury, Paris, 1529, contemporary limp vellum

TORY, GEOFFROY. Champfleury. Au quel est contenu Lart et science de la deue & vraye Proportion des Lettres Attiques, quon dit autrement Lettres Antiques, & vulgairement Lettres Romaines, proportionnees selon le Corps & Visage humain. (Paris: Geoffroy Tory & Gilles de Gourmont, 28 April 1529)

FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE, OF TORY'S JUSTLY FAMOUS TEXT ON TYPOGRAPHY, with beautiful letters and illustrations explaining the origin and proportions of roman type, along with examples of his lettres fleuries decorative initials, alphabets of Hebrew, Greek and other letters, as well as "fantastical" letters (an A made from a pair of compasses and a Z made from a trowel), "utopian" letters, and a page of interlaced capitals, similar to those found on fine bindings of the period.

Champfleury was reprinted in around 1536 and 1549, its popularity deriving from the increased interest at the time in Roman antiquities. Rather than just discussing Roman lettering, Tory also writes about printing and language, a French version of the questione della lingua which preoccupied Pietro Bembo at around this time. The (somewhat spurious) origin of French is provided, using mythological characters, in particular Hercules. The geometry of letters is discussed, providing numerous bizarre associations of letters and objects, including some illustrations linking the nine Muses with the flute of Apollo and then with the anatomy of man.

Folio (249 x 165 mm). Roman type, 49 lines plus headline. Collation: A⁸ B-N⁶ O⁸: 88 leaves. Title within woodcut border with woodcut pot cassé device, woodcut arms of France on verso of title, woodcut initials and illustrations, final leaf with larger pot cassé device within a woodcut border, woodcut alphabets in different languages, manuscript annotations to Hebrew alphabet. (Some staining throughout, first few leaves stained at foot, paper flaw in A8, small holes in C1, C2 and C5, last few leaves slightly defective at head.)

Binding: Later limp vellum (253 x 180 mm), manuscript lettering on spine. In modern black morocco drop-backed box. (Binding slightly soiled, small tear in spine.)

Provenance: Bookplate with monogram AM (probably twentieth-century). Acquisition: Purchased in 2011 from Librairie Paul Jammes, Paris. References: Mortimer, Harvard French 524; USTC 24232