PARRAN, Antoine.

Traité de la musique theorique et pratique, contenant les preceptes de la composition.

Paris, Pièrre Ballard, 1639. 4to, [viii], 143, [1], with woodcut device on title, and one folding table; a very few leaves damp-stained at upper corners; a fine copy in contemporary vellum; the title inscribed 'Constanter' above the woodcut device, and 'don de P. Mersenne 1640'; verso of front free end-paper with early notes concerning the provenance in Dutch and French. A SUPERB ASSOCIATION COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION of the French Jesuit's work on music, inscribed by Constantijn Huygens with his Latin motto 'Constanter' and recording this as being a gift from the eminent French philosopher and scientist Marin Mersenne. The book itself is extremely rare, with no copy of the first edition being recorded in NUC or OCLC.Following five years of Jesuit education, and two years of theology at the Sorbonne, Marin Mersenne joined the order of the Minims at Paris, remaining with it until his death in 1648. Together with the publication of important works, such as his commentaries on, and translations of, Galileo, and his Traité de l'harmonie universelle, Mersenne's major achievement was the establishment of a cooperating community of savants, with visitors at his convent and correspondents including Gassendi, Descartes, van Helmont, Fermat, Hobbes, and Pascal, and which reached fullfillment with the foundation of the Academia Parisiensis in 1635. Unlike Mersenne, who was of humble origin, Constantijn Huygens was born into a wealthy family serving the house of Orange, and with 'a strong educational and cultural tradition. The grandfather took an active part in the education of his children, and thus [Christiaan] Huygens' father [Constantijn] acquired great erudition in both literature and the sciences. He corresponded with Mersenne and Descartes, the latter often enjoying his hospitality in The Hague. Constantijn was a man of taste in the fine arts, talented in drawing, a musician and fertile composer, and, above all, a great poet; his Dutch and Latin verse gained him a lasting place in the history of Dutch literature' (DSB).Antoine Parran corresponded with Mersenne on musical theory, and a letter, in which he thanks Mersenne for having read, and corrected certain errors in, his Traité, is preserved in the archives of the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris (see De Waard, Correspondence du P. Marin Mersenne, pp. 728-729). Another letter, by Jan-Albert Ban, tells us about him being asked by Huygens to forward Parran's work to Mersenne (De Waard, ibid, p. 405). The presentation copy here offered thus is a beautiful example of intellectual exchange in the early modern era.Born in Nemours, Parran joined the Jesuits at Nancy in 1608, went to Bourges in 1616, and to La Flèche in 1625. A teacher of grammar and humanities, he died at Bourges in 1650.Fétis VI p. 458; Weckerlin 217-221.

• GBP 18,000.00 > 其他币种价格
• 订书号：: SP251

• 书商: Bernard Quaritch Ltd. (GREAT BRITAIN)