THE DEBATE OF THE VIEULX AND THE YOUNG: Newly īprimed. Small booklet in-4, red jansenist morocco, spine with 5 nerves, interior roulette and fillets, gilt edges (Chambolle-Duru). Bechtel, 213/D-103 // Brunet, II-550. (8f.) / A-B4 / 26 lines, gothic car / 89 x 127 mm. Third edition of this verse play on the dangers of love. The two editions preceding this one are incunabula, without place, name or date. Our edition, which bears no printer's mark but is the first to mention a place, is illustrated with 3 woodcuts: on the title a falconer and his valet and, on the verso of the title, a large woodcut depicting a young woman facing a king seated on his throne before an assembly of men. The third woodcut, on the verso of the last leaf, depicts a young man talking to a woman at a castle window. A delightful dialogue about love between an experienced old man and a young man he is trying to warn: I'm the poor old broken man Damours for long serving Without having collected anything Only regret, anguish and torment... To the young man who asks where he comes from, the old man replies: Straight from the service of love / With little that the heart does not do me / So many bad turns have I had / (...) / My youth has been left there... He warns him against this futile world where the last is the best and where there is no rest: Je le scay car jay faict loffice / Se ne ty trouve bien propice / Lon te tiendra pis que Varlet / Car il ny fault pas estre rice / Le beau y efface le let... The young man, then surprised that the old man, seeing this, has not left, gets this reply: Esperance de jour en jour / Me trompa / (...) / Je y a fait tout mon povoir / Mais les plus rouges y sont prins... This poem should not be confused with Le Debat du jeune et du vieulx amoureux, attributed to Hugues de Blosseville. A very rare booklet on courtly love. Our copy is the only one cited by Bechtel. We have not found another. A very fine copy despite a small angular restoration to one leaf. Provenance: Count Raoul de Lignerolles (II, 5-16 March 1894, no. 1110).