GIRAC, Paul Thomas de - Response du Sr. de Girac à la Défens - Lot 504

GIRAC, Paul Thomas de - Response du Sr. de Girac à la Défense des Oeuvres de M. de Voiture faite par M. Costar. Avec quelques remarques sur ses entretiens. Paris, Augustin Courbé, 1655. In-4, frontispiece, (7) ff, 286 pp, (8) ff, (2) ff (privilege and errata), contemporary brown marbled calf, spine ribbed and decorated, top cover ref. renewed, endpapers renewed. First edition. In 1653, Costar published the Défense des ouvrages de Monsieur de Voiture, a commissioned work that should have established Balzac's supremacy over Voiture in the field of eloquence, but instead Costar, pretending to please Balzac, actually praised Voiture. Balzac had died in 1654, having asked his friend and fellow Angoulême writer Girac to defend him. What followed was an exchange of replies and counter-replies between the two critics, no doubt fuelled by public interest. At the end is Girac's Dissertation in Latin addressed to Balzac, already published in 1652 and 1654 (Bound in the suite:) [COSTAR, Pierre] - Suite de la Défense des oeuvres de Mr de Voiture à Monsieur Ménage. Paris, Augustin Courbé, 1655, (8) ff, 425 pp, (18) ff. first edition dedicated to Cardinal de Mazarin.