BOOK, Attack on Catholicism, and Satire, 1566.

Henri Estienne:

L’Introduction au Traité de la Conformité des Merveilles Anciennes avec les Modernes, ou Traité préparatif á l’Apologie pour Herodote.

[Geneva, ?F. Estienne], 1566. 8vo. 17 x 10,5 cm. [72] + 680 pp. Woodcut printer’s device on title.

Contemporary yapp vellum, lacking label on spine, some light browning and foxing throughout, marginal paper defect pp. 273/4, substantial, neat annotations on endleaves. Bookplate: Ditchfield.

Second edition, distinguishable from the first (also “November 1566”) by the number of pages (680 as against 572). Although Renouard lists both editions under the imprints of Henri Estienne, Schreiber gives this one to his younger brother, Francois, on the evidence of the printer’s device. This is unique among the many “Estienne” devices in that the standing man holds both hands up towards the olive tree.

“One of the monuments of 16th century French prose. [...] Ostensibly written as a defense of the veracity of the ancient Greek historian, Herodotus, the book is actually a violent attack on Roman Catholicism, as well as a satire of 16th century society” (Schreiber).

See description.