Le Roman de la rose par Guillaume de Lorris et Jean de Meung, dit Clopinel. Édition faite sur celle de Lenglet Dufresnoy, corigée avec soin, et enrichie de la dissertation sur les auteurs de L'ouvrage.

Paris: J.B. Fournier, P.N.F. Didot, 1799. Hardcover. See Description. Tall 8vo. 5 vols. This copy dated "an septieme [1799]." Vol. I. pp. 435, [1 blank] Vol. II. pp. 410, [2 blank] Vol. III. pp. [4], 365, [2 blank] Vol. IV. pp. [4], 352 Vol. V. pp. [6], 352. Volumes I-III contain frontispiece engravings. Volume I contains an additional engraving opposite p. 74. Bound in period straight grained morocco binding – blind stamped and gilt. All edges gilt. Corners a bit bumped; minor wear to extremities; tiny chip to head cap of vol. I. Initial and final blank leaves foxed. The interiors are generally clean with only mild scattered foxing – a bit heavier in volume I. Small inscription on verso of fly-leaf in first volume. This edition is based on Lenglet Dufresnoy’s 1735 edition. The "Roman de la Rose" was one of the most important Medieval French poems. The work is divided into two sections. The first, written by Guillaume de Lorris in the early to mid 13th century, is an allegorical dream addressing the Art of Love. The second, written in the late 13th or early 14th century by Jean de Meung continues the poem in a different vein, turning the work into a satire and a commentary on contemporary society. The poem contains long digressions in which an encyclopedic mass of information on various topics is set forth including "satires on women, attacks on the magistrates, the hereditary nobility, and the mendicant friars, disquisitions on the origin of society and of royal power, on property, pauperism, and marriage, on the relations of nature and art, on hallucinations and sorcery and on the physical sciences." [Oxford Comp. to French Lit, p. 630]. Over time great interest has been attached to the allegorical meaning of the poem which is open to diverse interpretations. The work contains much alchemical symbolism. Also included are "Le Codicille de Maistre Jean de Meung" and " Le Testament de Maistre Jean de Meung" as well as several related alchemy tracts – "Le Remontrances de nature a l’alchymiste errant par Jean de Meung"; "Le Response de l’alchymiste a nature"; "Testament attribute a Arnauld de Villeneufve"; "Petit traicte d’alchymie intitule le sommaire philosophique de Nicolas Flamel"; "La Fontaine des Amoureux de science"; "Balade du secret des philosophes". Vol. V includes Lantin de Damerey’s "Supplement au glossaire" (first printed in 1737). This is a heavy set. Please inquire about postage. [Brunet 1175; Graesse IV, pp. 262-3 – both listing a 1798 printing].