Posthumous portrait of the poet Pierre de Ronsard by the School of Blois.

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Museum of Fine Arts, Blois

The poems of Pierre de Ronsard are always up to date.

A rare volume composed of collections of poems by the author was bought at auction for 218,750 euros, far above an estimate between 60,000 and 80,000 euros, Christie's announced on Tuesday.

The period binding, of exceptional luxury, made in a Parisian workshop for the bibliophile Pierre de Brisay de Denonville, justified this high price.

This volume was composed of three works by the famous Renaissance poet dating from 1553-1555: 

Le Bocage

,

Les Quatre Premiers Livres des Odes

and

Le Cinquième Livre des Odes

which was spelled at the time "Fifth".

It was part of the first part of the sale of the library of Swiss collector Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller, who died in 2016. The total sale, Tuesday in Paris, reached 1.583 million euros.

BNF in line

A set of five volumes of Ronsard's works, published in 1571, went for 175,000 euros.

And the book that the Geneva collector considered "the most beautiful" in his library,

Les Hymnes

(1555), still by Ronsard, for 110,000 euros.

Another volume acquired for a large sum: 

La deffence, and illustration of the Francoyse Language

by Joachim du Bellay in 1549, for 162,500 euros.

"Bibliophiles were fully aware of the quality of the collection, built with the erudition and passion of Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller", commented the head of the books division of Christie's Paris, Adrien Legendre.

The National Library of France (BnF) has made two pre-emptions to enrich its collection, with works by little-known poets.

One hundred quatrains

by Guy du Faur de Pibrac (1579), of which it was obviously the only known copy, cost 3,250 euros.

And one of the two known copies of

Errors in love

by Pontus de Tyard (1553) was bought for 15,625 euros.

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