DESRUES (François). Les Marguerites françoyses ou fleurs de bien dire. Rouen, Théodore Reinsart, sd [1609]. Small in-12 of [12] ff, 556-[3] pp. engraved title (doubled and remounted). Half brown calf, spine ribbed (19th c. binding). Spine split. Very rare edition. "We know very little about the life of François DESRUES, sometimes spelled DES RUES. Born around 1575, he is said to have been Receiver General of Finances in Soissons in 1602. However, this virtually anonymous character was the author of two genuine bestsellers published in the early 17th century. The first, presented as a veritable tourist and cultural guide to France, was entitled: Les antiquités, fondations et singularités des plus célèbres villes, chasteaux et places remarquables du Royaume de France [...] The second, the one we are going to look at, is a collection which, on publication, bore the title: Les Fleurs du bien-dire. Published for the first time in 1598, this book was a bestseller for several decades. Initially written in the form of letters, the book changed form from 1605 onwards to become a thematic collection of "traits d'esprit", which was republished and amended several times by DESRUES himself. The version presented here is a new edition by Théodore REINSART, a printer and bookseller from Rouen. Although the book is not dated, exegetes estimate that it was published between 1606 and 1612. The title of the work was changed to Les Marguerites françoyses, ou Fleurs de bien-dire, a change motivated by the author's desire to pay tribute to Marguerite de ROHAN, Marquise d'EPINAY, to whom the work was dedicated. The book now takes the form of an abécédaire, with a series of sentences of unequal size, generally convoluted, under each entry. These are quotations intended to be placed in a conversation or a letter to demonstrate a sophisticated, elegant and elitist language. While in his first editions DESRUES confessed to having 'plundered' others in order to create his 'bouquet', in the version presented here he does not mention any names, leaving us to assume that he was the sole author of the collection's contents. [...] Under HENRI IV, whose portrait appears on the title page of our book, a new Court "rhetoric" took root in high society. It is paradoxical to note that it was during the reign of a sovereign whose manners and speech were particularly frustrated that a language rich in convolutions, allegories and hyperboles appeared, largely thanks to DESRUES' book. This book aims to be a tool for social brilliance, even if its literary content remains very limited. This guide to "good speech" offers "ready-made phrases" adapted to almost every circumstance of court life. [Dicopathe.com. Bookplate Marye de Merval. Bookplate René Herval. Bookplate J.M.