Some 27 volumes from Jean II Brinon’s library are known, all printed books with the exception of a 14th century manuscript Roman de la Rose.¹ The books are dated 1498 to 1555; about half were printed at Basel, the others mostly at Paris and Venice. The majority are classical texts, or commentaries on them: Aristophanes, Collouthos, Euripides, Homerus, Orpheus, Publius Ovidius Naso, Phalaridis, Plautus, Sextus Placitus, Sidonius Apollonaris, Theocritus, Publius Vergilius Maro; Arsenios’s scholia on Euripides, Johannes Oporinus’s edition of Vergil’s Bucolics, Pomponius Laetus’s commentary on Vergilius, Veit Winsheim’s commentary on Sophocles. Brinon owned volumes of Neo-Latin poetry by Pietro Apollonio Collazio (in Jean de Gaigny’s edition), Jean Second, Pierre Lottich, and the poet laureate Kaspar Ursinus; two volumes on chronology, by Johann von Tritheim and Michael Buether; Giraldi’s work on classical mythology; Huttich’s coin book; and works on botany by Charles Estienne and Pierre Belon. A book in the Bibliotheca Brookeriana, Bartolomeo della Fonte’s translation of the Epistles of Phalaris into Italian, edited by Francesco Sansovino, is the only surviving book from Brinon’s library in the Italian language.

Jean Brinon (ca 1520-1555) was the son and sole heir of Jean I Brinon (d. 1528), seigneur de Villennes, 1er Président au Parlement de Rouen. After his father’s death, he was placed in the charge of Nicolas Séguier, seigneur de Saint-Cyr, and Maître des comptes, who appointed Loys Chesneau (d. 1572, known as Ludovicus Querculus), afterwards principal of the Collège de Tours, as the boy’s tutor. From Chesneau he perhaps acquired the love of poetry which he later indulged at his château at Médan, showering gifts and hospitality on poets and intellectuals, particularly members of the Pléiade, and exhausting his inheritance. By 1553, Brinon was in dire financial straits, obliged to cede by notarial contract part of his fortune to the Cardinal de Lorraine. His library was dispersed under unknown circumstances: one volume (no. 1, below) was acquired in 1567 by the Parisian bibliophile Jacques Malenfant, seigneur de Preyssac (ca 1530-ca 1603); another (no. 19) was in Leiden in the possession of the poet and diplomat Daniel Rogers (ca 1538-1591).

Between 1549 and his sudden and unexplained death in March or April 1555, aged about thirty-five, at least a dozen books were dedicated to Brinon by the poets and musicians who were receiving his hospitality and patronage.² Copies of those books with recognisable evidence of Brinon’s ownership are unknown. Books by others who dedicated individual poems to him, attended gatherings on his estate at Médan, and benefitted from his support, such as Jean Dorat, Étienne Jodelle and Jean-Antoine de Baïf, also are unknown. Surely, Brinon was gifted some if not all of these books? Since he was passing books to his binders until just weeks before his death - a volume stamped with his arms contains three editions printed by Johann Oporinus of Basel, dated September 1554-February 1555 - we surmise that he was not in the habit of indicating his ownership systematically. Unless an inventory should come to light, it is doubtful that the true extent and character of Brinon’s library can be ascertained.

Jean Brinon experimented with three ways of showing his personal ownership of a book. On a single binding (no. 7), bound in Paris about 1538, by Jean Picard, in brown calf, the genitive of his Latinized name plus “et amicorum” is tooled in gilt on both covers. This practice, introduced in France by Jean Grolier, was then confined to a few bibliophiles who bought their bindings in Paris.³ On another binding (no. 5), bound in Paris after 1546, in brown morocco, his motto “Espoir me tormente” is lettered on both covers. Brinon’s preferred way of proclaiming his ownership, used on 24 recorded bindings, is more explicit. On the upper covers of these bindings, all in brown calf over pasteboards, tooled in blind and gold to a panel design, the centres are occupied by a circular armorial stamp incorporating Brinon’s name and the title Conseiller du Roi au Parlement de Paris conferred on him in 1544.⁴ In the centres of the lower covers is another circular stamp, containing his motto “Espoir me tormente” and a complex monogram (the motto and monogram are impressed from individual stamps). Once again Brinon was among the avant garde, as only a dozen collectors were then using an armorial stamp to mark their bindings.⁵

Upper covers
Left Pair 1 (no. 18) – Centre Pair 2 (no. 4) – Right Pair 3 (no. 1)

Lower covers
Left Pair 1 (no. 18) – Centre Pair 2 (ohr Pl. 124, fer 4) – Right Pair 3 (no. 1)

Left Pair 1 (nos. 18; 25; 15, link) – Centre (ohr 125, fer 5; no. 4, link) – Right (no. 1, link)

Pair (1)
Upper cover, lettered: i · brinon · sr · de villaines · conseil · dv · roy · (Eugène Olivier, Georges Hermal & Robert de Roton, Manuel de l’amateur de reliures armoriées françaises, Paris 1924-1938, Pl. 125 no. 1, hereafter ohr)
Lower cover, lettered: espoir [ornament] me [ornament] tormente and monogram (ohr Pl. 125 no. 2). Aglaus Bouvenne (Les monogrammes historiques d’après les monuments originaux, Paris 1870, p.44) read the monogram on no. 16 as nine letters: b e h i n o p r s. The same nine letters were seen by ohr on no. 25; in Lucien Scheler’s analysis (op. cit.) of that binding, there are ten letters: a b e h i n o p r s.

Found on Belon 1553 (quarto); Collazio 1540 (octavo); Estienne 1554 (octavo); Euripides 1544 (octavo); Phalaridis 1545 (octavo); Pomponius Laetus 1544 (octavo); Second 1541 (octavo); Steuco 1531 (octavo); Theocritus 1515 (octavo); Ursinus 1522 (quarto); Vergilius 1539 (octavo)

Pair (2)
Upper cover, lettered: i · brinon · sr · de · villaines · conseil · dv ·roy · ✠ (ohr 125 Pl. 125 no. 3)
Lower cover, lettered: · espoir · me · tormente · and monogram (ohr Pl. 125 no. 4)

Found on Beuther 1551 (octavo); Huttich 1550 (octavo); Ovidius 1543 (folio); Sophocles 1549 (octavo); Trithemius 1545 (quarto)

Pair (3)
Upper cover, lettered: i · brinon · sr · de · villaines · cōseil · dv ·roy · (not recorded by ohr)
Lower cover, lettered: espoir [ornament] me [ornament] tormente and monogram (not recorded by ohr). The monogram was read by Laurent Guillo, Jean-Michel Noailly & Pierre Pidoux as nine letters: a b c e h m n o s.

Found on Aristophanes 1498 (folio), Sidonius 1542 (quarto)

Unknown fers: Arsenios 1544 (octavo); Giraldi 1548 (folio), Homerus 1541 (folio), Ovidius 1550 (folio), Plautus 1552 (octavo), Theocritus 1554 (octavo).

Not armorial bindings: Bucolica 1546 (octavo), Estienne 1536 (octavo). Re-bound: Ms Roman de la Rose

list of bindings

(1) Aristophanes, Comoediae novem (in Greek) (Venice: Aldo Manuzio, 1498)

provenance
● Jean II Brinon de Villaines (1520?-1555), supralibros (pair #3), stamps on both covers surrounded by letters: i m t (Iacobus Malinfantivs Tolosanus)
● Jacques Malenfant (ca 1530-ca 1603), inscription “Ek tōn bibliōn Iakōbo tou Malinphantiou Tolōsanou en Loutekia 1567” (opac The initials I.M.T. are stamped in a triangular fashion around each central medallion, although these appear to refer to a later owner, Jacques Malenfant of Toulouse, whose name appears in a Greek inscription dated 1567 inside the volume.)
● John Newcome (1684?-1765), bequeathed 1765
● Cambridge, St John’s College, Upper Library, Ii.1.22 (opac this appears to have belonged to the father who was named ‘conseiller clerc au parlement de Normandie’ in 1511; image)

literature
Laurent Guillo, Jean-Michel Noailly, Pierre Pidoux, “Un recueil parisien de psaumes, de chansons spirituelles et de motets (ca. 1565): Genève BGE Ms. Mus. 572” in Bulletin de la Société de l’histoire du protestantisme français 158 (2012), pp.199-233 (p.230: “Quant à l’Aristophane de 1498, il occupe une position un peu particulière: il est relié suivant la première manière à deux différences près; les monogrammes des coins portent en sus un ‘N’ bien visible, et le monogramme central du second plat, toujours entouré de sa devise circulaire, est d’un type rencontré seulement sur cet ouvrage. Nous avons déjà relevé que celui-ci était structurellement similaire au monogramme central des plats du Ms. Mus. 572.”)


(2) Arsenios, Scholia in septem Euripidis tragoedias ex antiquis exemplarib. ab Arsenio archiepiscopo Monembasiae collecta (Basel: Johannes Herwagen, 1544)

provenance
● Jean II Brinon de Villaines (1520?-1555), supralibros (fers unknown)
● Librairie Théophile Belin, Catalogue 302: Beaux livres anciens reliés en maroquin avec armoiries - Janvier 1907 (Paris 1907), item 2846 (FF25; “veau fauve, comp. de fil., tr. dor. Bel exemplaire aux armes de Jean de Brinon de Villaines et au chiffre de Florent Chrestien, précepteur de Henri IV, avec sa devise: Espoir me tourmente, et sa signature sur le titre. Gloses marginales manuscrites.”)


(3) Pierre Belon, De arboribus coniferis, resiniferis, aliis quoque nonnullis sempiterna fronde virentibus, cum earundem iconibus ad vivum expressis (Paris: Benoît Prévost, 1553)

provenance
● Jean II Brinon de Villaines (1520?-1555), supralibros (fers unknown)
● unidentified owner, inscription “Bouteroue” and shelfmark “M10.2” on front pastedown
● Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland (1675-1722)
● Catalogue of the books in the library at Blenheim Palace, collected by Charles, third Earl of Sunderland (Oxford 1872), p.56
● Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Bibliotheca Sunderlandiana: Sale catalogue of the truly important and very extensive library of printed books known as the Sunderland or Blenheim library. The first portion, London, 1-12 December 1881, lot 1154 (“contemporary calf gilt, with arms monogram and motto of ‘I. Brinon, Sr de Villaines, Conseil du Roy,’ stamped in gold on the sides, gilt edges”) [link]
● Banting - bought in sale (£8 10s)
● Nicolas Barker


(4) Michael Beuther, Ephemeris historica. Ejusdem, de annorum mundi concinna dispositione, libellus (Paris: Michel Fezandat & Robert Granjon, 1551)

provenance
● Jean II Brinon de Villaines (1520?-1555), supralibros (pair #2)
● Aix-en-Provence, Bibliothèque Méjanes, Rés D 0445 (opac Reliure veau aux armes de Brinon, sieur de Villaines)

literature
Guillo, op. cit., p.230 (“seconde manière”)
Jean-Marc Chatelain, Le Marquis de Méjanes Bibliophile - Exposition virtuelle, no. 55 (“Reliure parisienne en veau fauve poli, double encadrement de filets dorés et à froid avec le monogramme de Jean II Brinon aux angles de l’encadrement intérieur et ses armes au centre du plat supérieur, son monogramme entouré de la devise ‘Espoir me tormente’ au centre du plat inférieur, tranches dorées.”) [link]


(5) [Bucolica], En habes lector bucolicorum autores xxxviij. quotquot uidelicet à Vergilij ætate ad nostra usque tempora (Basel: Johann Oporinus, 1546)

provenance
● Jean II Brinon de Villaines (1520?-1555), without armorial device, motto “Espoyr me tormente” on both covers (without name or initials)
● Jean Ballesdens, with his signature and S fermé on title-page
● Ch. Charott (18C?)
● A. Rosenthal, Oxford (1949)
● Albert Ehrman (1890-1969)
● Oxford, Bodleian Library, Broxb. 24.14 (Flickr file, image; opac Motto of Jean Brinon stamped on both covers; most likely this is not Jean I Brinon (‘conseiller clerc au parlement de Normandie’), but his son Jean II Brinon)

literature
Anthony Hobson, French and Italian collectors and their bindings illustrated from examples in the library of J. R. Abbey (Oxford 1953), p.26 (cited)
Howard Nixon, Broxbourne Library: Styles and designs of bookbindings, from the 12th to the 20th century (London 1956), no. 28 (“brown morocco over pasteboards”, a “Paris binding”, “c. 1546”)


(6) Pietro Apollonio Collazio, Excidii Jerosolymitani libri IIII. Nunc primum Joannis Gagnaeii … opera ac studio in lucem editi (Paris: Nicolas Le Riche & Jean Loys, 1540)

provenance
● Jean II Brinon de Villaines (1520?-1555), supralibros (pair #1)
● Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, RES PYC-956

literature
Geneviève Guilleminot, in Ronsard: la trompette et la lyre (Paris 1985), p.46 no. 30 (illustrated; “On connaît six ouvrages provenant de Jean Brinon”) [image]
Anthony Hobson & Paul Culot, Italian and French 16th-century bookbindings (Brussels 1991), p.93
Guillo, op. cit., p.229 (“première manière”)


(7) Charles Estienne, De re hortensi libellus (Paris: Robert Estienne, 6 April 1536), bound with Charles Estienne, Seminarium sive plantarum (Paris: Robert Estienne, 12 July 1536), bound with Charles Estienne, Vinetum, in quo varia vitium, uvarum, vinorum, antiqua, latina vulgariáque nomina item ea quae ad vitium consitionem ac culturam ab antiquis rei rusticae scriptoribus expressa sunt ac bene recepta vocabula, nostrae consuetudini praesertim commoda brevi ratione continentur (Paris: François Estienne, 1537), bound with Charles Estienne, Arbustum. Fonticulus. Spinetum (Paris: François Estienne, 1538), bound with Charles Estienne, Sylva. Frutetum. Collis (Paris: François Estienne, 1538)

provenance
● Jean II Brinon de Villaines (1520?-1555), without arms or motto, lettered on upper covers “Io. Brinonii Et. Amicorum”
● unidentified owner, inscribed “Dieu me charge ou m’allège” (Scheler, “au début et à la fin du volume”)
● Lucien Scheler, Paris (?)
● John Roland Abbey (1894-1969), bought 1947
● Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of valuable printed books and fine bindings from the celebrated collection; the property of Major J.R. Abbey, London, 21-23 June 1965, lot 318 (as “bound by the Entrelac Binder”; “This is his only binding with the Et Amicorum formula - which he was one of only nine collectors to use (cf. lot 385) - but he owned others with his arms or motto.”)
● Bernard Quaritch, London - bought in sale (£340)
● Henry Davis (1897-1977)
● London, British Library, Henry Davis Gift 350

literature
Lucien Scheler, “Jean de Brinon, bibliophile” in Bibliothèque d’humanisme et de la Renaissance 11 (1949), pp.215-218 (lower cover illustrated)
Hobson, French and Italian collectors, op. cit., no. 10 (lower cover illustrated, as bound by Étienne Roffet)
Nixon, Broxbourne Library, op. cit., p.61 (“very like some of the bindings executed by Roffet for Jean Grolier”)
Mirjam Foot, The Henry Davis Gift: A Collection of bookbindings, volume 3: A Catalogue of South-European bindings (London 2010), no. 23 (upper cover illustrated, as a “Paris binding by Jean Picard”)
British Library, Database of Bookbindings, image


(8) Charles Estienne, Praedium rusticum (Paris: Charles Estienne, 1554)

provenance
● Jean II Brinon de Villaines (1520?-1555), supralibros (pair #1), cypher repeated in corners of both covers; upper cover lettered with title: . praedium . rustic | . carol . steph .
● De Baecque & Associés, Incunables et impressions du XVI e siècle, Lyon, 28 March 2019, lot 146 (“veau blond, plats ornés du titre, des armes et des chiffres de Brinon de Villaines, dos à nerfs orné, tranches dorées (reliure de l’époque)”; “Une charnière fendue, traces de restaurations anciennes, cernes sur les premiers feuillets, petits manque aux plats.”) [RBH 60176-146]


(9) Euripides, Euripidu tragodiai oktokaideka. Hekabe tragoediae octodecim. Hecuba (Basel: Johannes Herwagen, 1544)

provenance
● Jean II Brinon de Villaines (1520?-1555), supralibros (pair #1)
● unidentified owner, inscription “Present de Jan Brinon” (Scheler, “L’ouvrage contenait plus de nombreuses annotations manuscrites du poète et portait sur le titre cette inscription de sa main: Présent de Jan Brinon”)
● Théodore Goiffeux
● unidentified owner, inscription subscribed “C.R.” (opac)
● E.P. Goldschmidt & Co., London [stockbook #1182: “Euripides Basel Hervagius 1544 (arms Brinon de Villaines)” entered into stock with E.P. Goldschmidt himself as owner; sold to Mme Belin, 14 April 1923]
● Laure Eugénie Belin (née Pillet)
● René Boisgirard & Louis Giraud-Badin with Charles Bosse, Bibliothèque de Mme Th. Belin. Troisième partie: Livres des XVe, XVIe, XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, riches reliures anciennes armoriées, Paris, 9-10 March 1937, lot 581 (“Exemplaire aux armes et au chiffre de Jean Brinon, sieur de Villennes … Les marge portent quelques annotations de sa main. Suivant une note portée sur la garde, cet exemplaire proviendrait de la collection de Goiffeu qui fut exécuté à Madrid a la suite de sa participation à l’affaire du 7 Juillet 1822.” [link])
● Lucien Scheler, Paris
● New Haven, Yale University, Beinecke Library, BEIN Gfe86 a537b (opac Bound in contemporary calf, with arms and monogram of Jean Brinon (d. 1554) on sides, and with manuscript notes: on t.p.: ‘Present de Jan Brinon’; on fly leaf: ‘From the collection of Goiffeu, who was executed in Madrid for the part he took in the affair of the 7th July. 1822. -- The Mss. notes in the margins were written by him -- Madrid. 4 Dec, 1823. CR.’)

literature
Scheler, op. cit., p.216 (“Nous avons possédé un exemplaire du texte grec des Tragédies d’Euripide, publié à Bâle par Hervagius en 1544, fort volume in-8, relié en veau fauve du temps, où les plats, encadrés d’un jeu de filets droits, étaient orné des mêmes fers. L’ouvrage contenait plus de nombreuses annotations manuscrites du poète et portait sur le titre cette inscription de sa main: Présent de Jan Brinon.”)
Guillo, op. cit., p.20 (includes among his “première manière” bindings: “Euripide de 1544, 8° cité par Scheler 1949” and “non localisées”)


(10) Giglio Gregorio Giraldi, De deis gentium varia & multiplex historia (Basel: Johann Oporinus, 1548)

provenance
● Jean II Brinon de Villaines (1520?-1555), supralibros (fers unknown)
● François, comte Chandon de Briailles (1892-1953)
● Maurice Rheims & Jacqueline Vidal-Mégret, Bibliothèque de M. le comte C. de X… Première partie: Précieuses reliures armoriées ou ornées des XVIe ou XVIIe siècles, manuscrits, Paris, 2-3 December 1954, lot 127 (“veau, armes au centre, compart. de rangs de fil. or et à fr., monogramme dans les angles, dos orné de fil., tr. dor. (Rel. de l’ép.) … Exempl. grand de marges. Aux armes et au chiffre de Jean Brinon, seigneur de Villaines, m. en 1554. Armorial Olivier, 125”)
● unidentified owner - bought in sale (FF 8500) [Le Guide du bibliophile et du libraire, 6, p.449]
● Sotheby & Co, Catalogue of valuable printed books, London, 17-18 July 1967, lot 241 (lots 232-252 offered as “The Property of a Gentleman”; “contemporary calf gilt, panel of gilt and blind rules enclosing the arms of Jean Brinon, seigneur de Villaines et d’Auteil on the upper cover, with his monogram at the corners and in the centre of the lower cover, g.e., joints worn, bookplate of Comte Chandon de Briailles”)
● Alan Thomas, London - bought in sale (£8) [RBH PLYMOUTH-241]


(11) Homerus, Opus utrumque homeri iliados et odysseae, diligenti opera Jacobi mycilli & Joachimi camerarii recognitum (Basel: Johann Herwagen, 1541)

provenance
● Jean II Brinon de Villaines (1520?-1555), supralibros (fers unknown)
● Mostyn, family library (Flintshire, Wales)
● Llewelyn Nevill Vaughan Lloyd-Mostyn, Baron Mostyn (1856-1929)
● Sotheby Wilkinson & Hodge, Catalogue of valuable printed books, the property of The Lord Mostyn, Mostyn Hall, Mostyn, Cheshire, London, 16 April 1920, lot 193 (“2 vol. brown calf gilt with the arms, monogram and motto of. J. Brinon Sieur de Villaines on the sides and the title of each volume (in Greek), stamped at the top of each panel”) [RBH Apr161920-193]
● Tregaskis, London - bought in sale (£7 10s)


(12) Johann Huttich, Imperatorum et Caesarum vitae cum imaginibus ad vivam effigiem expressis (Lyon, Balthazar Arnoullet, 1550)

provenance
● Jean II Brinon de Villaines (1520?-1555), supralibros (pair #2)
● Paris, Bibliothèque Mazarine, Rés 8° 32530 (opac Reliure en veau fauve du 16e siècle: filets à froid et dorés, portant au centre les armes de Jean Brinon de Villaines, Conseiller du roi, avec aux quatre coins son chiffre formé des lettres: b.e.h.i.n.o.p.r.s. (o.h.r., pl. 125, n° 3 et n° 5). Titre doré sur les plats, fleurons dorés sur le dos à 5 nerfs, tranches dorées)

literature
Guillo, op. cit., p.230 (“seconde maniere”)


(13) Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoseos libri quindecim, cum commentariis raphaelis regii (Basel: Johannes Herwagen, 1543)

provenance
● Jean II Brinon de Villaines (1520?-1555), supralibros (pair #2)
● Poitiers, Médiathèque François-Mitterrand, BR 125 (opac Brinon II, Jean (…-1544) - seigneur de Villaines. Possesseur)

literature
Guillo, op. cit., p.230 (“seconde manière”)


(14) Publius Ovidius Naso, Fastorum libri VI. Tristium V. De ponto IIII. In ibin. Cum commetariis doctiss. Virorum (Basel: Johannes Herwagen, 1550)

provenance
● Jean II Brinon de Villaines (1520?-1555), supralibros (fers unknown)
● Poitiers, Médiathèque François-Mitterrand, B 932 (opac Brinon, Jean - sieur de Villaines, possesseur; CCFr: Devise estampée au plat sup.: ‘Espoir me tormente’ et le plat inf. porte: ‘J. Brinon sr. de Villaines conseiller du Roy’)


(15) Phalaridis, Epistolae, Le bellissime è sententiose lettere di Falari prencipe d’Agrigento in Sicilia, di nuouo tradotte dalla greca nella fauella toscana (Venice: Venturino Ruffinelli for Curzio Troiano Navò, 1545)

provenance
● Jean Brinon de Villaines (1520?-1555), supralibros (pair #1)
● Henrietta Louisa Fermor, Countess of Pomfret (1698-1761), armorial exlibris, printed in sepia “The Right Hon.ble Henrietta Countess of Pomfret Lady of the Bed Chamber to the Queen” with motto (in Welsh) “Pob dawne O dduw” [Herbert M. Vaughan, The Welsh book-plates in the collection of Sir Evan Davies Jones, Bart., M. P. of Pentower, Fishguard; a catalogue, with biographical and descriptive notes (London 1920), pp.28-29 (third of 4 bookplates described)]; by descent to her granddaughter, Sophia Petty, Countess of Shelburne (1745-1771), wife of William Petty, Earl of Shelburne, afterwards 1st Marquess of Lansdowne (1737-1805)
● Leigh & S. Sotheby, Bibliotheca Lansdowniana. Part II, London, 30 April-5 May 1806, lot 88 (“Le Bellissime e Sententiose Lettere di Falari prencipe d’Agricento in Sicilia. Vineg. 1545”)
● Richard Heber (1773-1833) - bought in sale (6s)
● possibly Sotheby & Son, Catalogue of the library of the late Richard Heber, Esq. Part the third. Removed from his houses in York-Street and at Pimlico, London, 10-28 November, 1834, lot 1394 (part lot: 7 vols, including “Epistole di Phalaride, ib. [Venice], 1545”); Sotheby & Son, Bibliotheca Heberiana: Catalogue of the library of the late Richard Heber, Esq. Part the tenth. Removed from Hodnet Hall, London, 30 May-14 June 1836, lot 2358 (“Phalaride, Epistole, gilt leaves, Veneg 1545”)
● Charles John Shoppee (1824-1897), exlibris
● Charles Herbert Shoppee (1852-1917) [not traced in his sales, 20-22 February 1918 (lots 468-899); 25-26 March 1918 (lots 1-342)]
● H.P. Kraus, New York; their Catalogue 111: One hundred and seventy-five manuscripts & books (New York [1965]), item 85 and Pl. 26 ($1250; “with bookplates of Henrietta, Countess Pomfret, and C.I. Shoppee”)
● Gunder Nordbäck (1903-1983)
● Sotheby Parke Bernet & Co., Music and Continental printed books, bindings, autograph letters and manuscripts, London, 26-27 May 1983, lot 507 (“contemporary Parisian calf, arms on sides of Jean Brinon de Villaines [Olivier 125 cf. fer 1] within a double gilt fillet border with his monogram at the corners [Olivier 125 cf. fer 2], gilt foliate tool in compartments of spine, hinges and corners repaired, new headbands and endpapers, folding box, bookplates of Henrietta, Countess of Pomfret and C. I. Shoppee”) [RBH Hedgehog-507]
● Patrick King Rare Books, Stony Stratford - bought in sale (£600)
● Michel Wittock (1936-2020)
● Christie’s Paris, Collection Michel Wittock. Troisième partie, Reliures françaises de la Renaissance, Paris, 7 October 2005, lot, lot 37 [RBH 5406-37]
● T. Kimball Brooker (purchased at the above sale) [Bibliotheca Brookeriana ID #2177; offered by Sotheby’s, Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library, Magnificent Books and Bindings, New York, 11 October 2023, lot 69]

literature
Sten G. Lindberg, Reliures royales et précieuses dans la collection du Dr Gunder Nordbäck (Zurich 1975), pp.24-25 no. 46
Hobson & Culot, op. cit., no. 37
Guillo, op. cit., p.229 (“première manière”)


(16) Titus Maccius Plautus, Comoediae XX. Diligente cura, & singulari studio Joachimi camerarii Pabeperg (Basel: Johannes Herwagen, [1552])

provenance
● Jean II Brinon de Villaines (1520?-1555), supralibros (fers unknown)
● Jérôme-Frederic, baron Pichon (1812-1896)
● Maurice Deslestre & Henri Leclerc with P. Cornuau, Catalogue de la bibliothèque de feu M. le baron Jérome Pichon. Première partie, Paris, lot 933 (“in-8 de 911 pag., veau fauvre, compart. de fil., dos orne, tr. dor. (Anc. rel.) Aux armes et au chiffre de Brinon, Sr de Villaines, ceonseiller du Roi”)
● François, comte Chandon de Briailles (1892-1953)
● Maurice Rheims & Jacqueline Vidal-Mégret, Bibliothèque de M. le comte C. de X… Première partie: Précieuses reliures armoriées ou ornées des XVIe ou XVIIe siècles, manuscrits, Paris, 2-3 December 1954, lot 254 (“Exemplaire grand de marges, aux armes, devise et chiffre de Jean Brinon de Villaines … Ses armes sur chaque plat sont dans un médaillon rond avec inscription de son nom sur le premier plat, de sa devise sur le second. (Armorial Olivier, 125); de plus chaque plat port le titre Plauti”)
● unidentified owner - bought in sale (FF12,000)


(17) Julius Pomponius Laetus, Ivlii Pomponii Sabini Grammatici eruditissimi, in omnia quae quidem extant, p. Vergilii maronis opera, commentarii, varia multarum rerum cognitione referti, nuncque primum in lucem editi (Basel, [Johann Oporinus, 1544])

provenance
● Jean II Brinon de Villaines (1520?-1555), supralibros (pair #1)
● Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, RES P-YC-477

literature
Hobson & Culot, op. cit., p.93
Guillo, op. cit, p.229 (“première manière”)


(18) Jean Second, Opera nunc primum in lucem edita (Utrecht: Herman I van Borculo, 1541), bound with Petrus Lotichius, Elegiarum liber. Eiusdem carminum libellus (Paris: Michel de Vascosan, 1551)

provenance
● Jean II Brinon de Villaines, supralibros (pair #1)
● unidentified owner, inscription “Ex dono C. D. Hieronymi Luillerij” (Catalogue collectif de France, hereafter ccfr)
● Jesuit College, Orléans, “Colleg. Aurelian. soc. Jesu” (ccfr)
● Ecole Sainte-Geneviève, Paris, inkstamp “Ecole Sainte Geneviève - B.D.J.”
● Lyon, Bibliothèque municipale, SJ X 433/108, 1-2 (opac Reliure estampée à chaud aux deux plats aux armes, au monogramme et à la devise de Jean Brinon de Villaines)

literature
Numelyo - Bibliothèque numérique de Lyon, image


(19) Sidonius Apollinaris, Lucubrationes, liberalium literarum studiosis cognoscendae & iterum atque iterum repetende item Joannis Baptistae pii commentaria (Basel: Heinrich Petri, March 1542)

provenance
● Jean II Brinon de Villaines (1520?-1555), supralibros (pair #3)
● Daniel Rogers (1538?-1591) (opac Ms. annotations on endpapers and marginalia including bibliographic references, attributed to Daniel Rogers in ECL card catalogue. See Van Dorsten, J.A. Poets, patrons, and professors: Sir Philip Sidney, Daniel Rogers and the Leiden humanists. (Leiden, 1962))
● Henry Godolphin (1648-1733), inscription on verso of title-page recording donation to Eton College Library, 1731
● Eton, Eton College, Fh.4.05 (opac Contemporary 16th-century French binding of brown calf; border edges of gilt and blind fillets; inner frame of gilt and blind fillets with gold-tooled ‘devise’ of Jean Brinon, sieur de Villaines, at the corners; front cover with gold-tooled armorial stamp in a roundel lettered ‘i · brinon ·sr ·de ·villaines ·co[n]seil ·dv ·roy’ and with gold-tooled title ‘c soll sidon apollinaris’; back cover with gold-tooled ‘devise’ in a roundel lettered ‘espoir me tourmente’; five raised bands and two half-bands, the latter with gilt hatching; gold-tooled leaf stamp in compartments; gilt text block edges)

literature
Robert Birley, The History of Eton College Library (Eton 1970), pp.36, 75 (“the armorial stamp in this book is not quite the same as that illustrated in Hobson, no. 11, having, in the name and office printed round the arms, Cōseil, not Conseil”)


(20) Sophocles, Interpretatio tragoediarum sophoclis ad utilitatem juventutis quae studiosa est Graecae linguae edita a vito vvinshemio (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Braubach, 1549)

provenance
● Jean II Brinon de Villaines (1520?-1555), supralibros (pair #2)
● Joannet Chaumolne, 1628
● John Roland Abbey (1894-1969)
● Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of the celebrated library; the property of Major J.R. Abbey. Part III, London, 19-21 June 1967, lot 2170 (“contemporary Parisian light brown calf, panelled in gilt, bound for Jean Brinon de Villaines with his arms surmounted by an astrolabe in the centre of the upper cover, and his monogram with the motto ‘Espoir Me Tormente’ in the centre of the lower, his monogram repeated at each corner, the author’s name ‘Sophoclis’ outside the frame on each cover, spine gilt in compartments, g.e.”)
● Georges Heilbrun, Paris - bought in sale (£340)

literature
Anthony Hobson, French and Italian collectors, op. cit., no. 11
Guillo, op. cit., p.230 (“seconde manière”)


(21) Agostino Steuco, Augustini Steuchi Eugubini Veteris testamenti Veteris Testamenti ad veritatem Hebraicam recognitio (Lyon: Sébastien Gryphe, 1531)

Image courtesy of Federico Macchi

provenance
● Jean II Brinon de Villaines (1520?-1555), supralibros (pair #1)
● Brescia, Biblioteca Queriniana, Cinq.F.30 (opac [link])


(22) Theocritus, Theokritou Boukolika (Florence: Filippo I Giunta, 10 January 1515)

provenance
● Jean II Brinon de Villaines (1520?-1555), supralibros (pair #1)
● Thomas Grenville (1755-1846)
● London, British Library, G 17242 (opac With the arms, monogram and motto of J. Brinon, Sieur de Villaines, stamped in gold on the sides)

literature
Nixon, Broxbourne Library, op. cit., p.61
Guillo, op. cit., p.229 (“première manière”)
British Library, Database of Bookbindings, link


(23) Theocritus, Idyllia trigintasex, recens è Graeco in Latinum, ad verbum translata, Andrea divo justinopolitano interprete ([Bern], Samuel Apiarius for Johann Oporinus of Basel, September 1554), bound with Orpheus, Opera, iam primum ad verbum translata, & diligentius quàm antea multis in locis emendata (Basel: Johannes Oporinus, February 1555), bound with Colluthus Lycopolitanus, Coluthi thebani lycopolitani poetae, helenae raptus, per renatum perdrierium Parisiensem ad verbum translatus: in quem breves annotationes accesserunt, Bernardi bertrandi regiensis huic adiectus est tryphiodori Aegyptii grammatici & poetae, de ilii expugnatione libellus, ab eodem versus (Basel: Johannes Oporinus, February 1555)

provenance
● Jean II Brinon de Villaines (1520?-1555), supralibros (fers unknown)
● Sydney Richardson Christie-Miller (1874-1931)
● Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of a further selection of rare & valuable works … from the renowned library formerly at Britwell Court, Burnham, Bucks. The property of S.R. Christie-Miller, London, 15-18 March 1926, lot 709 (part lot; “Theocritus. Idyllia XXXVI, Andrea Divo interprete [Basel: Oporinus] 1554; Orpheus, Opera [Basel: Oporinus] 1555; Coluthus. Helenae Raptus; Tryphiodorus. De Ilii expugnatione [Basel: Oporinus], 1555, in one vol. panelled calf gilt, arms of I. Brinon, Sieur de Villaines on upper cover and the monogram h o a b s v at corners, g.e.”)
● Sotheby & Co., Catalogue of printed books and a few manuscripts, London, 2-4 March 1931, lot 658 (offered among “Other Properties”; “contemporary panelled calf gilt, with the arms and name of J. Brinon, Sieur de Villaines Conseiller du Roy, his motto ‘Espoir me tormente’ and his monogram at each corner and in the centre of the lower cover, g. e.”) [RBH 02Mar1931-658]
● Brymer - bought in sale (£1 10s)


(24) Johannes Trithemius, De Septem Secundeis, id est, intelligentiis, sive spiritibus orbes post deum mouentibus, reconditissimae scientiae et eruditionis libellus (Frankfurt am Main: Cyriacus Jacob, 1545), bound with Sextus Placitus, Contenta in hoc opere. Sextus philosophus platonicus de medicina animalium bestiarum, pecobum, et avium (Zürich: Christoph Froschauer, 1539)

provenance
● Jean II Brinon de Villaines (1520?-1555), supralibros (pair #2)
● Lyon, Bibliothèque municipale, Rés 357273 (opac Armes et au chiffre de Jean II Brinon de Villaines (ohr 125))

literature
Guillo, op. cit., p.230 (“seconde manière”)


(25) Caspar Ursinus Velius, Poematum libri quinque (Basel: Johann Froben, 1522)

provenance
● Jean II Brinon de Villaines (1520?-1555), supralibros (pair #1)
● Kórnik, Biblioteka Kórnicka, Cim.Qu.2919 (opac, Binding: leather, 16th century, brown, embossing. blind, gilded, card edges gilded, greased in 1969 On the front part binding: 1) shortened version of the author and title ‘C [asparis] Urs [ini] Veli [i] Po [ematum]’; 2) superexlibris by Jean II de Brinon de Villaines (ca 1520-1555), active in the Paris Parliament in 1544 (‘J. Brinon S [eigneu] r de Villaines conseil [leur] du Roy’). On the back, the sentence was engraved as follows: ‘Espoir me tourmente’.) [link, link; image of binding]

literature
Biblioteka Kórnicka, Pamiętnik Biblioteki Kórnickiej (Kórnik 1958), no. 1509 (“Ursinus Velius Caspar: Poematum libri IV [sic] Basel 1632 [sic] Prow.: 1. J. Brinon Sr de Villaines conseilleur du Roy [superexl.]”)


(26) Publius Vergilius Maro, P. Vergilii Maronis Opera accuratissime nunc demum recognita (Venice: Giovanni Antonio Nicolini da Sabbio & Federico Torresano, 1539)

provenance
● Jean II Brinon de Villaines (1520?-1555), supralibros (pair #1)
● Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, RES P-YC-421 (opac en veau roux estampé à chaud au chiffre et aux armes de Brinon de Vilaines)

literature
ohr Pl. 125 (copy cited)
Lucien Scheler, “Jean de Brinon, bibliophile” in Bibliothèque d’humanisme et de la Renaissance 11 (1949), pp.215-218 (p.216)
Guillo, op. cit., p.229 (“première manière”)


(27) Manuscript “Roman de la Rose”, ca 1360-1380, on vellum with miniatures, in a binding with the arms of Charles IX

provenance
● Jean II Brinon de Villaines (1520?-1555) (?) (volume rebound)
● Aimar de Ranconnet (1490?-1559), inscription “Ce Roman de la Roze a esté achapté de l’inventaire de feu maistre Jehan Brinon, seigneur de Villennes, par moy. De Ranconnet”
● Charles IX, King of France (1560-1574), supralibros
● Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Ms. Fr. 800

literature
Leopold Delisle, Cabinet des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque impériale (Paris 1868), p.190
Philippe Tamizey de Larroque, “Un grand homme oublié Le Président de Ranconnet” in Revue des questions historiques 10 (1871), pp.230-245 (p.237)
Ernest Langlois, Les Manuscrits Du Roman de la Rose (Lille & Paris 1910), pp.7-8 (“Reliure aux armes de Charles IX … Les livres du président de Ranconnet ont été confisquées sous Charles IX et réunis à la bibliothèque de Fontainebleau, où celui-ci reçut le no. 499”)
Isabelle De Conihout, “Les bibliophiles avant la bibliophilie (XVIe -XVIIe siècles)” in Revue d’Histoire littéraire de la France 115 (2015), pp.49-72 (p.52: “On pourrait croire que l’un des manuscrits du Roman de la rose relié aux armes de Charles IX provient de l’ancienne bibliothèque royale. Il n’en est rien, il a appartenu à Brinon de Villaines, le mécène de Ronsard, et est entré à Fontainebleau un peu par hasard avec l’ensemble des livres du magistrat érudit Aymar de Ranconnet qui l’avait acquis à la vente post mortem de Brinon.”)

books from brinon's library, but not bound for him

(a) Giovanni Boccaccio, Le philocope (Paris: Charles L’Angelier, 1555)

provenance
● Jean II Brinon de Villaines (1520?-1555)
● Alde, Livres anciens du XVe au XIXe siècle; impressions elzéviriennes et d’Yverdon, Paris, 24 February 2017, lot 8 (“Belle reliure à entrelacs de cire peinte ornée d’un fer aux trois croissants de lune entrelacés”, “Le nom De Villaines figure dans deux ex-libris manuscrits différents - l’un en capitales romaines, l’autre en cursives bâtardes - inscrits sur le titre et le second contreplat du volume. Il pourrait s’agir, sans certitude, d’une marque de provenance du célèbre bibliophile Jean II Brinon († 1555), seigneur de Villaines. “ [RBH 25854-8]