Gyron le Courtoys : auecques la deuise des armes de tous les cheualiers de la Table ronde.

Accession number: 
PML 511
Uniform title: 
Guiron le Courtois (Prose romance). French (Middle French)
Published: 
Imprime a Paris : [Guillaume Le Rouge] pour Anthoine Verard, [approximately 1503]
Description: 
[8], lxxj, lxxiiij-Cx, CCi-CCCxli leaves, leaf CCCxxxix : illustrations (woodcuts) ; 33 cm (fol.)
Credit Line: 
Purchased with the Kerr collection, 1903.
Notes: 

Title from half-title page, leaf ā1r.
Imprint from colophon, leaf S6v: Imprime a paris pour Anthoine Verard marchand libraire demoura[n]t a Paris pres petit point deuant la rue neufue nostre dame a lenseigne saint iehan leuangeliste, ou au palais au premier pillier deuant la chappelle ou len chante la messe de messeigneurs les presidens. [Printer's mark]
Printed in a type similar to Vérard's 3:118G.
Signatures: ā⁸; a-m⁸ n-o⁶; A-R⁸ S⁶: 258 leaves.
Paper format: Royal folio.
Running title on versos of leaves from beginning of the romance (leaf i) to last leaf variously as: De Gyron le Courtoys; Gyron le Courtois; Gyron le Courtoys; De Gyron le Courtois.
Moreau gives date as "c. 1503, d'après l'adresse d'A. Vérard." Brunet and some others date as "vers 1501"; Goff has date as "[1500-03]."
Forms the second part of an Arthurian prose romance cycle known under the titles Guiron le Courtois and Palamedes, composed approximately 1235-1240. "The Palamedes is an offshoot of the prose Tristan ... Owing to the insignificant role which Palamedes plays in the work ... Paulin Paris was led to conjecture that the current title of the romance became attached to it through some misunderstanding ... [in footnote:] He, consequently, always calls the romance Guiron le Courtois, since Guiron is the most prominent character in the book, and many scholars have followed him"--Bruce, James Douglas. The evolution of Arthurian romance. 2nd edition. Gloucester, Mass., 1958, v. 2, page 21
"In any event, at an early date, the work was divided into two parts, known, respectively, as Meliadus de Leonnoys and Guiron le Courtois, which in the sixteenth century were printed as separate romances. The author of Palamedes is unknown, for the ascription to a pretended Helie [or Hélie de Boron], which occurs in the prologue [of certain manuscript versions], is, without doubt, fraudulent"--Bruce, page 22.
Printed by Guillaume Le Rouge for Verard. See Universal short title catalogue.
Contains 258 leaves. Preliminaries (8 leaves) are unnumbered; numbers lxxij-lxxiij, Cxj-CC omitted in foliation; number CCCxxxix repeated on final leaf (instead of CCCxlij); other errors in foliation.
Bastard type; 2 columns, 46 lines. First line of title xylographic.
Illustrations: 6 large woodcuts, on title page verso, last preliminary leaf recto, and leaves i recto, xxx recto, CCi recto and CClxxxj verso. Reused from Vérard's previous publications.
Many initials of various sizes, some grotesque. Woodcut publisher's device (Silvestre, L.C. Marques typographiques, no. 36; Renouard, P. Les marques typographiques parisiennes des XVe et XVIe siècles, 1088; Davies, H.W. Devices of the early printers, 1457-1560, no. 41; Macfarlaine, "later device," figure lxxvii) at end.
"La deuise des armes des cheualiers de la Table ronde": leaves ā2-ā4.
PML copy leaf dimensions: 35 x 24.5 cm.
PML copy missing 1 leaf: ā1 (half-title page).

Binding: 
20th-century quarter blind-tooled brown goatskin, with wood grained paper sides, over wooden boards (36 x 26 cm), sewn on 4 supports by Duprez-Lahey. Plain paper pastedowns and endleaves; decorative endbands.
Variant Title: 

Gyron le Courtois

Provenance: 
Bernard Quaritch, Catalogue of Medieval Literature (1890), no. 251 for £50.0.0; John Edward Kerr; Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), purchased with the Kerr collection, 1903.
Classification: 
Department: