La gallerie des femmes fortes. Troisiesme edition, revue & corrigée

Paris: Claude Barbin, 1661. 12mo, pp. [110], 309, [3]; 251, [16], [4]; with genuine blank [N12] at the end of volume I and the 2 leaves of preliminaries for volume II bound in at the back; extra engraved title page, and 20 full-page engraved portraits of women by Claude Vignon; woodcut ornaments and initials; leaf e3 with marginal tear; all else about fine in an attractive full crimson morocco binding of the 19th century, a.e.g., gilt lettered direct on spine. "In 1647, La Gallerie des Femmes fortes by the Jesuit Pierre Le Moyne, the admired court poet, was published by Antoine de Sommaville. Dedicated to Anne of Austria, the work is composed of twenty chapters, written in both verse and prose, celebrating notable women of Jewish, Christian, and Pagan origin...In these beautiful engravings of women, we find in our artist the profound sense of taste for the heroines, filled with grace, passion, and melodrama" (Pacht-Bassani). The portraits include Salome, Artemise, Lucrece, Jeanne d'Arc, and a dramatic portrait of Marie Stuart.