De Lorris / De meung - Le romant de la rose - 1969

The Romances of the Rose, 1969, Éditions de l’Ibis

Rare gathering of the two quarto volumes, in a publisher’s case. Usually one finds only a single volume or the 1981 edition.

• Publisher’s binding: full brown morocco, back with raised bands, gilt title, boards decorated with a broad border of fine lines and cold-tooled friezes, gilt head. At the center of the first board: a relief plaque in imitation ivory, one side showing a couple in a lovers’ garden, the other an allegorical figure, in the style of 15th-century bindings.

Main volumes: the text of the Roman de la Rose printed from the types of the incunable edition of Jehan du Pré (late 15th century).

4 accompanying volumes: 2 pamphlets bound in half-mrown reproducing the modern French translation by Pierre Marteau (Orléans, 1878).
2 Sets of illustrations: a suite of line drawings (black and white) of all the compositions by André Hubert, with separate slipcase.

Edition:
This copy is part of the 171 copies containing the illustration suite.

Illustrations: compositions by André Hubert, miniaturist and master glazier, heightened with stenciling and numerous polychrome and gilded floral borders emulating illuminated manuscripts and the Jehan du Pré incunable. Hand coloring done in the art workshop of Éditions de l’Ibis.

Condition: very good copy, some light rubbing on the cases

Masterpiece of 13th-century French literature and one of the most widely diffused medieval texts (nearly 300 manuscripts preserved), the Roman de la Rose is a long allegorical poem of over 21,700 octosyllabic lines, written in two parts by two authors with opposite sensibilities.

First part – Guillaume de Lorris (c. 1230–1235)
About 4,000 lines.
The narrator recounts a dream he had at twenty. He discovers a paradisiacal orchard (the Garden of Deduit) surrounded by a wall adorned with the figures of vices. Inside, he meets the allegories of courtly love: Beauty, Courtesy, Frankness, Welcoming Beloved...
Before the fountain of Narcissus, he sees a perfectly beautiful rose bud — symbol of the beloved lady and femininity. The god Amor wounds him with arrows. Thus begins the amorous quest, with advances and retreats, until Jealousy builds a fortress around the rose and imprisons Welcoming Beloved. The Lover remains desolate.
This first part is a true art of refined, elegant, idealized, and psychological courting, in the pure tradition of fin’amor.

Second part – Jean de Meung (Jean Chopinel, c. 1269–1280)
More than 17,700 lines.
Jean de Meung continues the narrative where Guillaume left off, but radically changes tone and ambition. The poem becomes a vast satirical and philosophical encyclopedia: Discourses on Reason, Nature, Genius, Old Age…
There it discusses love, sexuality, marriage, religion, science, power, misogyny, and free will. Courteous idealism gives way to Gaulish wit, ironic and often provocative. The Lover finally plucks the rose in a scene of explicitly sexual conquest.
This duality (refined courtesy / encyclopedic satire) made the Roman de la Rose a foundational text, admired, imitated, discussed, and sometimes sharply criticized (the famous “Quarrel of the Romance of the Rose” at the beginning of the 15th century, with Christine de Pizan). It profoundly influenced European literature, from Dante to Chaucer.