Les Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles 1701 (two volumes) . This two-volume set is titled “Les Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles Suivent Les Cent Nouvelles Contenant Les Cent Histoires Nouveaux, Qui font moult plaisant a raconter, En toutes bonnes Compagnies; Par Manière De Joyeuseté”, Avec d’excellentes Figures en Taille-douce, Graves sur les desseins du fameux Mr. Romain de Hooge, a Cologne. Chez Pierre Gaillard MDCCI. The title means “The Hundred New Novellas Following The Hundred Novels Containing The Hundred New Stories, which are very pleasant to tell, in all good companies; by Way of Joy”, and the books were published in Cologne by Pierre Gaillard in 1701. According to WorldCat, the books were first published in 1701, so these are first editions, entirely in French, as called for, and classic examples of early renaissance ribaldry, much in the spirit of Boccaccio or Chaucer, and the engravings were done by de Hooge. The set is a collection of stories supposedly narrated by various persons at the court of Philippe le Bon and collected together by Antoine de La Salle in the mid-15th century. According to one critic, the nouvelles are the first work of literary prose in French, and they give glimpses of life in the 15th century, including a genuine view of the nobility and the middle classes - there are no dreamy lovers, romantic ladies, fairies, or chivalry. Noble dames, bourgeois, nuns, knights, merchants, monks, and peasants mutually dupe each other: the lord deceives the miller's wife, the miller retaliates; a shepherd marries the knight's sister, without much scandal; the vices of the monks are depicted in a score of tales, seducers are punished with a severity not always in proportion to the offense. Many people believe the author was Antoine de la Sale (1385 to ca. 1460), also spelled La Salle or de LaSalle, a French courtier, educator and writer who didn’t begin writing until he reached middle age. Romeyn de Hooge (1645 - 1708) was a late Dutch Baroque painter, sculptor, engraver and caricaturist. Born in Amsterdam, he is best known for political caricatures of Louis XIV and propaganda prints supporting William of Orange. He produced erotic art and some of his political propaganda prints have been considered early, prototype comic strips. The books have five raised bands, six compartments with gilt lettering and gilt bands on the spine, a gilt-fillet border with gilt decorations on the covers, marbled endpapers with gilt dentelles on the front paste-down, the title pages, the engravings were done by de Hooge, and all the edges are gilt. Volume I has a full-page frontis engraving, the title page, a six-page Preface, a two-page Advertisement (“Auertissement) with a small vignette, a twenty-page Table of Contents (“Table”), 45 plates (one plate to begin each nouvelle), and 397 pages of text. Volume II is inscribed “par Antoine de la Salle” in pencil on the title page, then a twenty-two page Table to briefly describe each nouvelle, 55 plates and a small vignette on the last page of the text, and 389 pages of text. (The first nouvelle in the second volume begins at number XLVI [46] and goes up to C [100], so a total of one hundred plates and nouvelles are present between the two books.) The books measure 5 7/8 x 4 in. wide and are in great condition. The bindings are tight and the pages and text are very clean, the plates are clean, the gilt is bright, the boards are in very good condition, and all one hundred plates are present, as well as the frontis plate in the first volume and the two other vignettes. There are just traces of rubbing on the heel and crown of Volume I and at the tips, and Volume II has light rubbing at the heel and crown and a bit at the tips, specks of rubbing at the top edge of the front board, with faint scratches on the back cover; there are faint brown spots on a couple of pages in the two volumes - you have to hunt to find them - and light offset on the page opposite some of the plates, and all one hundred plates and novellas are present. The books range in price from € 801 to nearly $1700 online for the 1701 set, one set sold for €1,250 at Christie’s in 2019 and another for € 4386 recently at Pierre Berge, and we are starting the bidding low, not because of condition - the books are in great condition - but to get the bidding going. #231 #4999