MARGUERITE DE NAVARRE. L'Heptameron des Nouvelles de tresillustre et tresexcellente Princesse Marguerite de Valois, Royne de Navarre. In-4, contemporary vellum, laces (renewed and missing). Brunet, III-1416 // De Backer 247 // Tchemerzine-Scheler, IV-378. (4 f.)-210 f. (incorrectly numbered 212)-(2 f.) / ã4, a-z4, A-Z4, Aa-Gg4 / 152 x 232 mm. Third edition, rare. It is the second to contain all 72 short stories. Marguerite de Valois-Angoulême, the elder sister of François I, was born in 1492 and, like him, was raised at the court of Louis XII. Her first marriage was to Charles IV of Alençon. Widowed following his death shortly after the disaster of Pavia, she later married Henri II d'Albret, becoming Queen of Navarre. At the court of France, and later of Navarre, she surrounded herself with artists and particularly protected writers, without getting caught up in the religious quarrels that troubled the period. Cultured and well-educated, she herself successfully practised literature and poetry, of which her Heptaméron and Marguerites are the most famous collections. She died in 1547. A first edition of Heptaméron appeared anonymously in 1558 under the title Histoires des Amans fortunez and contained just 67 short stories. In 1559, Claude Gruget published a second edition, with five additional short stories in the original and the definitive title Heptaméron. A third edition, our own, was published the following year by three booksellers, Gilles Gilles, Vincent Sertenas and Benoist Prevost. It is illustrated with a handsome engraved title and large, beautifully ornate lettering. Vellum soiled, stained, endpapers and laces renewed. Small holes on the title reaching the first 10 leaves, wetness on quires K and X and leaves S4 and T1, angular lack on leaf G1, and leaves D1 and D4 shorter by 1.5 cm in the lower margin. Provenance: B. de Wassenaer (handwritten bookplate on title), Frédéric, baron de Keverberg, château de Kessel (handwritten bookplate dated 1856 on verso of title).