MATTHIEU (Pierre). Esther, tragedie. Lyon, Jean Stratius, 1585. In-12, midnight blue morocco, triple gilt fillet, spine decorated with petit fers, interior lace, gilt edges (Trautz-Bauzonnet). Extremely rare first edition. The tragedy of Esther is the first published work by the Comtois poet and playwright Pierre Matthieu (1563-1621). Born in Pesmes, Franche-Comté, he began teaching at the age of nineteen at the Collège de Vercel, where his pupils performed the play. Initially a supporter of the Ligueur, Pierre Matthieu rallied to Henri IV; appointed historiographer of France, he became a champion of the monarchy and the king, with whom he conversed quite familiarly. Esther is dedicated to two noble ladies, Mme de La Villeneuve and Mme d'Achey, from the houses of Granvelle and du Peloux. According to the custom of the time, the play is preceded and followed by verse pieces addressed to the author by his friends, his pupils and even his father. It is said that, despite its success, the author repented of having published it and destroyed as many copies as he could, which has made this book extremely rare. Molière praised Matthieu's quatrains - "les doctes tablettes / du conseiller Mathieu, ouvrage de valeur, / et plein de beaux dictons à réciter par cœur..." (Sganarelle, sc. 1). And - as a note left in this copy by the comte de Lignerolles reminds us - this tragedy "of extreme rarity" was known to Racine: "one finds the memory of it in his Esther", composed in 1689 at the request of Mme de Maintenon. A superb copy, very finely bound by Trautz-Bauzonnet. This is the only copy of this book cited by Brunet (except that of Soleinne, which is incomplete of the final 18 pp.), from the libraries of Auguste Veinant (1856, n°547), the Count of Lignerolles (1894, II, n°1547) and Henri Monod (1920, I, n°231), with bookplates. Slight crack to one spine. Brunet, III, 1530 (quoted copy) - Baudrier, II, 400.