RAVISIUS, Johannes. (Textor)]

De Memoralibus et claris Mulieribus Aliquot Diversorum Scriptorum Opera.

      - Paris, Simon de Colines, 1521. FIRST EDITION thus. Folio. ff. 176, [ii], 177-219, [ii] (lacking final blank). Roman letter, Colines woodcut device on title, fine white on black woodcut crible initials in various sizes, including one, repeated, incorporating the arms of Vuignacourt and Guillard, ms. table of contents on verso of title-page in early hand, C19 armorial bookplate of the Earl of Macclesfield on pastedown, Shirburn Castle blindstamp to head of first two ll, small waterstain to lower blank margin of first gathering and last two ll. A fine, very well margined copy, some untrimmed in eighteenth-century speckled calf, covers bordered with triple gilt rule, large gilt fleurons to corners, spine gilt in compartments with raised bands, all edges speckled red. compartments with raised bands, all edges speckled red. The second and third page are taken up with a dedication by Jean Ravisius Textor (Jean Tixier, seigneur de Ravisy) to Jeanne de Vuignacourt, the wife of Charles Guillard dated the 8th of July 1521.Jean Tixier de ravisy born in Saint-Saulge near Nevers (d. 1524) The texts in this volume, gathered by Ravisius, are excerpts from works by Plutarch, Jacobus Philippus Foresti (the bulk of the volume), Jean de Pins, Battista Fregoso and Raffaele Maffei, as well as a few items written by Ravisius himself. Foresti's work on famous women had been published originally in 1497.Ravisius (1480-1524) was a student at the College of Navarre and was nominated in 1500 to be rector of the University of Paris. This folio is a collection of ancient and Renaissance texts dealing with famous women edited by Jean Tixier de Ravisy. The volume opens with Plutarch's De Claris Mulieribus first published in 1485 and includes the popular Renaissance work of the same title by Jacopo Filippo Foresti, first published in 1497; the life of St. Catherine of Siena by Jean de Pins and a section on scholarly women including Sappho, St. Elizabeth of Schenau and St. Hildegard by Baptista Fregoso. One of the most interesting pieces consists of the Neo-Latin epic on Joan of Arc by Valerand de la Varanne which was printed separately in 1516. This is the second printing of this compelling text. (See Brunet V, 1085)[Schreiber]. Valerand was a theologian born in Abbeville. L'interet principal de ce poeme latin n'est pa pour nous dans l'affirmation de certain faits, mais dans l'expression des idees admises ou pouvant etre admises des son temps sur Jeanne d'Arc, et. ce point de vue, l'oeuvre de Valerand est de premiere importance[Lanery d'Arc, 1453]. Tixier also contributed some original texts, among them an essay on famous prostitutes. Ravisy contributed a long epistle dedicatory to Jeannede Vuignacourt wife of Charles Guillard, President of the Parliament of Paris and a piece on Charlotte de Bourbon. There are also mentions of the Amazons. BM STC Fr. C16 p. 373. Adams R201. Renouard, Colines p.20. Moreau III, 233. not in Schreiber.