[Rarebooks] fa: THE PRINCELY WAY TO THE FRENCH TONGUE 1677 • w/ Hume-Campbell Provenance

[ArCh]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, March 21. Images and more details can be found at the URL below or by searching for the seller name arch_in_la. 

https://tinyurl.com/yeola2dw

Thanks again,
Ardwight Chamberlain
Ann Arbor, MI, USA


[Pierre de Laine:] The Princely Way to the French Tongue, as it was first compiled for the Use of Her Highness the Lady Mary, and since taught her Royal Sister the Lady Anne. To which is added a Chronological Abridgment of the Sacred Scripture by way of Dialogue. Together with a larger Explication of the French Grammar, choice Fables of Æsop in Burlesque French, and lastly some Models of Letters French and English. By P.D.L. Tutor for the French to both Their Highnesses. The Second Edition. London: Printed by J. Macock for H. Herringman at the Blue Anchor in the lower walk of the New Exchange, 1677. Small 8vo (16.5 cm) in early/period goatskin; [14], 350, [2] pp.; with the engraved frontispiece and terminal blank leaf. Wing L183, ESTC R4667.

Binding well worn and rubbed, both boards and the first two leaves detached, shadows of old tape repairs; ink stain to the fore-edge of the text block, contents generally quite clean, with occasional spots and stains, early owner's signature of Margaret Campbell to the title-page. Front paste-down with the elaborately engraved armorial bookplate (dated 1702) of Patrick Hume, 1st Earl of Marchmont and Lord High Chancellor of Scotland. The signature on the title-page presumably belonged to the wealthy heiress Margaret Campbell, wife of Patrick's son Alexander, the 2nd Earl of Marchmont, who, upon their marriage, changed the family name to Hume-Campbell.

Everything a young 17th-century English noblewoman might need to know in the way of French, including such essential phrases as: "Bid the Coach-man lead us to the shade" (Dites au Cocher qui mene a l'ombre); "He's a Wit, a haughty scornful Gallant" (C'est un Esprit fort, un Galant fier & dedaigneux); "My head akes" (J'ai mal a la tête); "I am weary of reading" (Je suis lasse de lire); and the always useful: "There's two Prudes in that gilt Calesh, two Sapphoes, and two Precioses" (Voila deux Prudes dans cette Caleche doree, des Saphos, des Precieuses).