{"id":5195,"date":"2021-02-05T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-05T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.facsimilefinder.com\/articles\/?p=5195"},"modified":"2021-02-13T09:19:12","modified_gmt":"2021-02-13T08:19:12","slug":"pierre-sala-little-book-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.facsimilefinder.com\/articles\/pierre-sala-little-book-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Pierre Sala’s Little Book of Love"},"content":{"rendered":"

What better way to celebrate romanticism than with a book about love<\/a>!<\/p>\n

Who was Pierre Sala?<\/h2>\n

Here’s a little about him.<\/p>\n

Pierre Sala<\/strong> was born in 1457 in Lyon, son of an old wealthy family of the Lyon bourgeoisie<\/strong>. Starting from the 1480 he was at the service of the French royal family, with his first “employer” being Charles VII<\/strong>, King of France. In this line of work Sala had the chance to travel a lot, undertaking a number of journeys that led him as far as the Ottoman Empire<\/strong>. Under Louis XII<\/strong> and Francis I<\/strong> he was first valet de chambre<\/em> and later shield bearer.<\/p>\n

In 1514 he finally settled down in Lyon, his hometown, where, in 1522, he was paid a personal visit by the king himself \u2013 an honor he would be proud of until his death in 1529.<\/p>\n

\"Double<\/a>
Double page opening of Pierre Sala’s Little Book of Love<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Little Book of Love<\/h2>\n

Pierre Sala’s Le Petit Livre d’Amour<\/a><\/strong> is justly considered an interesting manuscript. This is because, although the book seems to have been presented to Pierre’s loved one Marguerite<\/strong> while he was still courting and although it begins with a dedication describing the relationship between the author and the woman of his heart, the work features some passages that, with their slightly hinted irony and underlying resignation, betray a rather pessimistic view of the world<\/strong> and of society.<\/p>\n

\"Miniature <\/a>
Miniature of the Little Book of Love <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Text <\/a>
Text and miniature of the Little Book of Love <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

At the same time, however, this book represents a respectful love<\/strong> which even though not fulfilled, achieves happiness, while still hoping for a response, thus giving a message of hope. There is an alternating perspective, which, if you think about it, represents the human nature at its core, love and hate<\/em>, light and darkness<\/em>, yin and yang<\/em>, etc.<\/p>\n

\"Double-page<\/a>
Double-page opening of Le Petite Livre d’Amour<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The core of the work is composed of twelve iconologues<\/strong> thus forming an entity of picture and text. All miniature pages are laid out in a uniform rectangle frame<\/strong> and they go back to the Master of the Chronique scandaleuse<\/strong> who worked in Paris from 1493 to 1510.<\/p>\n

You can now watch a high definition video of the facsimile edition of the Little Book of Love<\/strong><\/a> in our Take a Break from the Present video series! Make sure to check out our YouTube channel!<\/em><\/p>\n