LHystoire des nobles et vaillans Cheualiers Milles & Amys/ lesquelles en leur viuant furent plains de grandes proesses & vaillances.

4to: [136] ff. (ff. D, D4, K2 and K3 in 19th-c. facsimile by A. Pilinski; cut short at top occasionally shaving headlines, toned, some spotting or staining, a few sm. def.).

19th-c. brown morocco by H. Duru, gilt-titled spine on 5 raised bands, a.e.g., gilt inside dentelles, marbled endpapers, red silk marker (rubbed and scratched). Good copy.

Later ed. (1st Paris 1507) of a popular chivalric novel of friendship and sacrifice. "It is the story of two friends, one of whom, Amis, was smitten with leprosy because he had committed perjury to save his friend. A vision informed him that he could only be cured by bathing in the blood of Amiles’s children. When Amiles learnt this he killed the children, who were, however, miraculously restored to life after the cure of Amis. The tale was probably of Oriental origin, and introduced to the West by way of Byzantium. It found its way into French literature through the medium of Latin, as the names Amicus and Amelius indicate, and was eventually attached to the Carolingian cycle in the 12th-century "chanson de geste" of "Amis et Amiles". There are obvious reminiscences in this story of Damon and Pythias, and of the classical instances of sacrifice at the divine command. The legend of Amis and Amiles occurs in many forms with slight variations, the names and positions of the friends being sometimes reversed. The crown of martyrdom was not lacking, for Amis and Amiles were slain by Ogier the Dane at Novara on their way home from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land." (Enc. Brittan.). 24 woodcuts (incl. title). 4 ff. are provided in early facsimile by the Polish engraver Adam Pilinski (1810-1887). He used an ingenious procedure, a mix of photography and lithography, to make reproductions, a procedure that can be considered as an ancestor of the xerox copy. He worked in Paris, a.o. for Charles Capé, le duc d'Aumale, Joseph Techener and Ambroise Firmin Didot. It may be the latter who commissioned him to provide 4 ff. in facsimile for this copy.
Large woodcut mark at the end. Printed in 2 col., in gothic type.
Ref. Bechtel (Gothiques) M-338 (i.a. this copy). - Pettegree FB 37937. - STC French (BL) 15. - Not in Adams, Mortimer (Harvard French).
Prov. Ambroise-Firmin Didot (1790-1876), printer, Hellenist and art collector (bookpl.). - [Georges Petit].