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The 1558 "Histoires des amans fortunez" of Pierre Boaistuau: Research in Progress

Delve into the 16th-century cultural and literary context surrounding the forgotten best-sellers by Pierre Boaistuau, including the Heptameron and the role of powerful noble families. Explore suppressed editions, royal patrons, and the Paris printing industry. Unravel the mystery of tangled narratives and rival patrons in this ongoing research project.

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The 1558 "Histoires des amans fortunez" of Pierre Boaistuau: Research in Progress

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  1. Research in Progress related to the 1558 Histoires des amans fortunez of Pierre Boaistuau Editioprinceps of the Heptameron of Queen Marguerite de Navarre

  2. Cultural & literary context • 1540-1588: Consolidation of the state, rise of bureaucracy, the last generation of powerful post-feudal noble families: Valois, Bourbons, D’Albrets, Montmorencys, and Guises • A Catholic country with a Protestant minority • Manuscript culture gives way to the printing press • The forgotten best-sellers of Pierre Boaistuau “de Launay” 1556-1560-(1572)

  3. Marguerite d’Angouleme, Q. of Navarre d. 1549 Author of the Heptameron

  4. The first & second editions of the Heptameron • 1558 • Editor: Pierre Boaistuau • Dedicatee: Marguerite de Bourbon • No author named on title page • Privilège: 6 years • 1559 • Editor: Claude Gruget • Patron: Jeanne d’Albret, Queen of Navarre • Author: Marguerite Queen of Navarre • Privilège: 10 years

  5. “confus auparavant…”

  6. the sins of Pierre Boaistuau • Went to the wrong royal princess for patronage • Suppressed the name of the author • Disarranged the narrative format • Skipped a few of the stories • Toned down some of the remainder

  7. Jeanne D’Albret, the warrior Queen of Navarre, 1555-1572 Daughter of Marguerite, the author of the Heptameron

  8. The 1558 edition: gone • Jeanne d’Albret bought them, or paid to have them pulped, and commissioned a new edition • Copies survive in 8 institutional collections • 3 copies were still in private hands in the early 20th century

  9. Printing and publication in 16th century Paris • Shared expense & shared distribution: shifting partnerships, project based • Division of labor: print, publish/distribute, secure the rights to reproduce • The Sertenas group – In-laws, widows & long-standing partnerships • Gilles Gilles, the undocumented printer

  10. Threads to Pursue: history of books & printing • Why was Boaistuau’s edition scrambled & “confus?” • Establishing from presswork that the same group printed both the 1558 & 1559 editions • The mechanisms of suppression – why did the privilège not protect the 1558 edition? • How did a Paris printers’ cartel operate? • The hidden career of printer Gilles Gilles • The provenance history of surviving copies

  11. Threads to Pursue: Historical, biographical • The mystery of the dedication – still stumped • Marguerite de Bourbon-Vendome, who eludes some researchers – could correct some recent published errors • The strange afterlife of the rival patrons : the adoption of Marie de Cleves (don’t understand it) and the funeral of Jeanne d’Albret as described by la Reine Margot in her memoirs (further research determined this was a dead-end – 3/2010)

  12. Completing and publishing this story: subdividing, funding, venues? • What are the logical components of this story? • What audiences might want to hear or read about them? • Funding sources for any of this work? • Update 3/2010: Received a Houghton Library fellowship-in-residence grant to pursue some of these answers in the collection at Harvard

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