Plutarque /Jacques Amyot - Les Vies des hommes illustres Grecs & Romains, comparées l’une avec l’autre par Plutarque ... - 1559

Plutarch.
The Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans, compared with one another by Plutarch of Chaeronêa. Translated from Greek into French by Jacques Amyot.
Paris, Michel de Vascosan, 1559.
Grand folio, old binding later in black leather stamped in blind and gilt, spine ornate, red title label, red edges. Collation complete: [8], 734, [26].

Important original French edition of the famous translation by Jacques Amyot, a monument of French humanist prose and one of the major texts of the Renaissance.
Parisian print run by Michel de Vascosan, with royal privilege and printed in May 1559.

The volume includes the dedication to King Henri II, the address to the readers, the catalog of illustrious men, the Parallel Lives of Plutarch, from Theseus to Octavian, then the alphabetical table of main subjects, the errata and corrections, and the final privilege.
Beautiful Renaissance typography, with headbands and large decorated initials.

Copy on laid paper. Binding rubbed with scuffs. Title and first leaves restored, with folds, stains and scattered spots.

Rare and precious first French edition of a foundational text, whose influence was considerable on Montaigne, French moral literature, and French political thought.