L’histoire du noble preux et vaillant chevalier Guillaume de Palerne & de la belle Melior [...].

4to: [56] ff. (toned and spotted, hole in E3 with loss of a few letters).

Mod. quarter vellum, marbl. paper boards, flat spine. Good copy printed on poor quality paper.

Abbreviated prose version of a medieval French romance on "William of Palerne". “Guillaume, a foundling supposed to be of low degree, is brought up at the court of the emperor of Rome, and loves the emperor’s daughter Melior who is destined for a Greek prince. The lovers flee into the woods, disguised in bear-skins. Alfonso, who is Guillaume’s cousin and a Spanish prince, has been changed into a wolf by his stepmother’s enchantments. He provides food and protection for the fugitives, and Guillaume eventually triumphs over Alfonso’s father, and wins back from him his kingdom. The benevolent werewolf is disenchanted, and marries Guillaume’s sister. The love of Guillaume and Melior, though presented as classical courtly love, ends in marriage and children—a deviation from the original formulation of courtly love that grew common in romances of this era” (Wikipedia). Woodcut on title (repeated at the end). Printed in 2 cols. Ref. BnF. - Not in Goldsmith (BL), Le livre populaire, USTC. Prov. Ownership entries on title (partly deleted). - Émile van Heurck, Belgian folklorist, 1871-1931 (coloured bookpl.). - [Georges Petit].