RABELAIS (François). Le Quart livre des faicts & dictz heroiques du bon Pantagruel... Nouvellement reveu & corrigé par ledict autheur, pour la deuxième edition. S.l.n.n. [Paris, Maurice Ménier], 1553. In-8, limp vellum with leather covers and fastenings, red morocco slipcase (contemporary binding). A very precious and extremely rare edition of the Quart livre. This was probably the last edition to appear during Rabelais' lifetime, when he died in Paris in April 1553. Brunet wrongly attributed it to Michel Fezandat, the publisher of the first complete edition, published in Paris in January 1552 (an abridged version of the novel, in eleven chapters, having appeared as early as 1548), while Plan believed it was printed in Lyon; however, the authors of the New Rabelais Bibliography have shown that it was produced in Paris, based on the Lyon edition given in 1552 by Balthasar Aleman. Raphaël Cappellen attributes it to the presses of Maurice Ménier, who had recovered some of François Girault's typographical equipment. The last pages contain the Brief declaration of no obscure dictions, a kind of lexicon whose attribution to Rabelais is debated. Only six copies of this extremely rare edition are known to exist in public collections, all of them in France, and none of them in contemporary bindings. Our copy is one of only two known in first printing, together with the copy in the Tours library (Rés. 2757) from the Abel Lefranc collection: sections B to E are in their original state, whereas they have been reprinted in the other five copies described in the New Rabelais Bibliography. A very pure copy in its first binding in overlapping vellum. This is the only copy listed in this highly desirable condition. Antique handwritten bookplate on the title. Small loss of vellum on the spine. Brunet, IV, 1053 - Plan, n°83 - Rawles & Screech, NRB, n°52 - R. Cappellen, "A l'enseigne du masque : imprimeurs, libraires et éditeurs de Rabelais de 1552 à 1588", Réforme, Humanisme, Renaissance, 2016/1, pp. 65-115.