[Valentine and Orson- Extremely Rare 17th Century Edition] Valentine and Orson, The Two Sons of the Emperour of Greece. Newly Corrected and Amended; with New Pictures, lively Expressing the History

London: Printed by A[lexander] M[ilbourn] for E[benezer] Tracy, at the Three Bibles, on London-Bridge, 1697. First edition thus. First edition thus. Paper size: 5 x 7 1/8 inches, 181, [3] pages. Bound in full rich crushed morocco by RiviËre & Son, (stamp-signed in gilt on front turn-in), raised bands, gilt decorated dentelles. A fabulous late 17th Century rare edition of this classic French prose romance, in near fine condition. With half-page woodcut illustration on title-page, and half-page woodcut sharing frontispiece, and fourteen wonderful half-page woodcut illustrations throughout text. AEG. With initial advertisement leaf and three final contents pages; advertisement at foot of Z4. In this edition, the text is in roman letter. Endpapers slightly browned around the edges from turn-ins, neat paper repairs with a few letters supplied, half-inch tear to lower margin pages 63/64, small piece torn from upper edge (paper flaw) pages 37/38 and a few very faint stains or fox marks. A beautiful copy, amazingly preserved, clean and perfectly seated in the text block. From the library of David and Lulu Borowitz (bookplate on front pastedown); and William Maul Measey (bookplate on front pastedown); and with Justin G. Schiller's custom bookplate. "'Valentine and Orson' is a medieval French romance that became a popular English chapbook tale. Middle Dutch, Low German, German, and Old Swedish versions suggest that the original verse version is an early-14th-century French text called 'Valentine and Nameless.' It first appeared in French prose with the author listed as Jac. Maillet in 1489, and was translated into English around 1502 by Henry Watson, who added many plot details, including a helpful dwarf magician and a dragon...Versions vary considerably in content as well as length: from Purfoot on, it was stripped of sexual misdemeanors and Catholicism. The tale also appeared in verse and play forms, which helped extend its popularity into the 19th century." (Elaine Ostry in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature).