Charles BOURDIGNÉ. La Legende ioyeuse maistre Pierre Faifeu Cõtenante plusieurs singularitez ｸ veritez, La gēntilesse ｸ subtilite de son esprit avecques les passetēps qu'il a faitz en ce monde / comme vous pourrez veoir en lysant les chappitres cy dedens cõtenuz, Avecqs Une epistre envoyee des champs Helysees... Small in-4, midnight blue morocco, on the covers double intertwining fillets forming a double frame with small fleurons at the corners, spine with 5 ornate nerves, inner lace, edges gilt on marbling (Bauzonnet-Trautz). Bechtel, 96/B-353 // Brunet, I-1177, II-139 // USTC, 94531. LIV (incorrectly numbered LV) / a-n4, o2 / 35 lines, gothic car / 121 x 186 mm. Very rare first edition of this collection of forty-nine folk tales in verse. The author, brother of the chronicler Jean de Bourdigné, was a priest in Angers, but a priest in the manner of Rabelais (Larousse). His dates are unknown but the colophon indicates that he lived in 1531; Fin des faitz & dictz ioyeulx de Maistre pierre faifeu mis & redigez par messire Charles bordigne prestre le premier iour de mars lan mil. ccccc. xxxi. Bourdigné was the first French versifier, after Saint-Gelais, to alternate fairly regularly between feminine and masculine rhymes. The work is a pleasant production reminiscent of Villon's Repues franches. It recounts the mischievous tricks of maître Pierre Faifeu, who lives by his wits, mixing farce and swindle. The work was first published in Angers in 1531-1532 and not in 1526 as Brunet indicates, who overlooked the colophon and was misled by the title page, which is decorated with a frame bearing the date 1526. These facéties were reprinted by Coustelier in the Collection des anciens poètes français in the early eighteenth century. The title is decorated with a fine architectural frame with putti, basins, pillars, acanthus leaves and fountains. On the verso of the title is a poem addressed to the reader: Ballade aux lysans. This work is very rare. The USTC only lists the BnF copy. A very fine copy, finely bound by Bauzonnet-Trautz. Repairs to 4 leaves (i4, l3, m4, n4), 3 of which have slightly orange-coloured glue discharges. Provenance: Count Wlgrin Taillefer (stamp on title) and Ambroise Firmin-Didot (bookplate, 6-15 June 1878, no. 208).