Research in Progress related to the 1558 Histoires des amans fortunez of Pierre Boaistuau
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Transcript of Research in Progress related to the 1558 Histoires des amans fortunez of Pierre Boaistuau
Research in Progress related to the 1558 Histoires des amans fortunez of Pierre Boaistuau
Editio princeps of the Heptameron of Queen Marguerite de Navarre
Cultural & literary context
1540-1588: Consolidation of the state, rise of bureaucracy, the last generation of powerful post-feudal noble families: Valois, Bourbons, D’Albrets, Montmorencys, and Guises
A Catholic country with a Protestant minority
Manuscript culture gives way to the printing press
The forgotten best-sellers of Pierre Boaistuau “de Launay” 1556-1560-(1572)
Marguerite d’Angouleme, Q. of Navarre d. 1549
Author of the Heptameron
The first & second editions of the Heptameron
1558 Editor: Pierre
Boaistuau Dedicatee:
Marguerite de Bourbon
No author named on title page
Privilège: 6 years
1559 Editor: Claude
Gruget Patron: Jeanne
d’Albret, Queen of Navarre
Author: Marguerite Queen of Navarre
Privilège: 10 years
“confus auparavant…”
the sins of Pierre Boaistuau Went to the wrong royal princess for
patronage Suppressed the name of the author Disarranged the narrative format Skipped a few of the stories Toned down some of the remainder
Jeanne D’Albret, the warrior Queen of Navarre, 1555-1572
Daughter of Marguerite, the author of the Heptameron
The 1558 edition: gone Jeanne d’Albret bought them, or
paid to have them pulped, and commissioned a new edition
Copies survive in 8 institutional collections
3 copies were still in private hands in the early 20th century
Printing and publication in 16th
century Paris
Shared expense & shared distribution: shifting partnerships, project based
Division of labor: print, publish/distribute, secure the rights to reproduce
The Sertenas group – In-laws, widows & long-standing partnerships
Gilles Gilles, the undocumented printer
Threads to Pursue: history of books & printing
Why was Boaistuau’s edition scrambled & “confus?”
Establishing from presswork that the same group printed both the 1558 & 1559 editions
The mechanisms of suppression – why did the privilège not protect the 1558 edition?
How did a Paris printers’ cartel operate? The hidden career of printer Gilles Gilles The provenance history of surviving copies
Threads to Pursue: Historical, biographical
The mystery of the dedication – still stumped Marguerite de Bourbon-Vendome, who
eludes some researchers – could correct some recent published errors
The strange afterlife of the rival patrons : the adoption of Marie de Cleves (don’t understand it) and the funeral of Jeanne d’Albret as described by la Reine Margot in her memoirs (further research determined this was a dead-end – 3/2010)
Completing and publishing this story: subdividing, funding, venues?
• What are the logical components of this story?
• What audiences might want to hear or read about them?
• Funding sources for any of this work? • Update 3/2010: Received a Houghton
Library fellowship-in-residence grant to pursue some of these answers in the collection at Harvard