Les oeuvres morales & meslees de Plutarque, translatees du grec en françois par Messire Jacques Amyot [...].

1 (of 2) parts in one vol., folio: [6]-358 ff. (sm. hole in inner margin of title, marg. dampstaining, some sl. foxing, some quires sl. browned at end, sm. burning hole in lower margins of ff. 342 & 346).

18th-c. vellum, flat spine, red edges.

First edition of the translation of the first part of Plutarch's "Moralia" by Jacques Amyot (1513-1593), teacher of Charles IX and Henri II, famous as a Greek translator. It is one of the masterpieces of French Renaissance prose - in fact a greater scholarly performance than the "Lives", but less succesful. The volume contains the first 48 chapters dealing with curiosity, envy & hate, "de l'avarice & convoitise d'avoir", "que les bestes brutent usent de la raison", "s'il est loisible de manger chair", etc. Copy in neat typography with wide margins.
Ref. Hoffmann III:384. - STC French 358. - Adams P-1642. - Pettegree (FB) 44104.