Du Bourg, Manuscript emblem book, [Paris, c. 1535-1538], mottled calf, Barrois-Ashburnham-Vershbow copy

[Du Bourg, Antoine] [Manuscript emblem book, in Latin]. [Paris, ca 1535-1538]

An early and unusual illustrated emblem book, written shortly after the first publication of Alciati in 1531, judging by the dedication, which reads: "Spectatis. viro Ant. a Burgo Franciae cancellario. N. a Prato s.p.d.". The writer is Nicolas Duprat or Dupré, who presents his book to the chancellor of France, Antoine du Bourg, who was in post from 1535 to 1538. The text does not seem to have been printed, so this is plausibly the only record of this text.

Each of the nineteen miniatures has a caption in the image, and this is followed by a description of between two and five pages explaining the meaning of the emblem. In line with other emblem books, there are numerous examples taken from nature, including "Superas astutia vires" with a snake overpowering an elephant, and "Mors quoque vita nova est", with two small new green palm trees growing beneath a large brown moribund one. Some emblems are surprisingly gruesome, with "Pietas crudelis amorque impius est multis" depicting some men cutting up limbs on a table while another takes a cleaver to an old man, and "Vulnus opemque ferrum solus" has one man cutting into the arm of his defeated opponent who sits on the ground with his sword beside him.

4to (202 x 143 mm). Manuscript on paper, 50 leaves (the last 3 blank), plus a flyleaf at front and back, 20-22 lines in brown ink in a cursive hand, ruled in red, 19 full-page coloured illustrations of emblems with captions in red and gold (one with a replacement illustration pasted in), watermark of a jug surmounted by a crown and quatrefoil (similar to Heawood 3555 and 3556, undated and unlocated). (Plausibly lacking a miniature to accompany the final leaf of text, some light soiling, some miniatures rubbed with slight loss of pigment, small stain at upper corner, a few calligraphic flourishes trimmed, replacement illustration slightly torn at edge.)

binding: Eighteenth-century mottled calf (204 x 148 mm), flat spine gilt and lettered EMBLEM DE DU PRAT MANU SCRIT, red edges. In modern drop-backed box. (Upper joint broken, old repairs to joints and ends of spine.)

provenance: Antoine du Bourg (ca 1490-1538), the dedicatee — François Didier Petit de Meurville (1793-1873), of Lyon, sale, Paris, Palais Royale, March 1843, lot 361, bought by — Jean-Baptiste Barrois (1785-1855), his manuscripts purchased in 1849 by — Bertram, 4th Earl of Ashburnham (1797-1878), his Barrois MS CCCC (with his green paper label on spine) — Bertram, 5th Earl of Ashburnham (1840-1913), sale, Replica Shoes 's, London, 10-14 June 1901, lot 493 — Joseph Baer & Co., Frankfurt, Catalogue 500 (1908), item 29, 1600 marks — Hamill & Barker, Chicago, sold in 1978 to — Arthur & Charlotte Vershbow, sale, Christie's, New York, 9 April 2013, lot 32. acquisition: Purchased at the preceding sale.