[2 volumes] The Works of Mr. Francis Rabelais Doctor in Physick. Containing Five Books of the Lives, Heroick Deeds and Sayings of Gargantua and his Sonne Pantagruel?

Half calf over marbled paper boards. Spines with 5 raised bands, gilt-lettered maroon morocco labels in second and fourth compartments. Marbled pasted and free endpapers. Top edges gilt, front uncut. , François Rabelais (born between 1483 and 1494; died 1553) was a French writer who has been called the first great French prose author. A humanist of the French Renaissance and Greek scholar, he attracted opposition from both Protestant theologian John Calvin and from the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. Though in his day he was best known as a physician, scholar, diplomat, and Catholic priest, later he became better known as a satirist for his depictions of the grotesque, and for his larger-than-life characters. Living in the religious and political turmoil of the Reformation, Rabelais treated the great questions of his time in his novels. Rabelais admired Erasmus and like him is considered a Christian humanist. He was critical of medieval scholasticism and lampooned the abuses of powerful princes and popes. Rabelais is widely known for the first two volumes relating the childhoods of the giants Gargantua and Pantagruel written in the style of bildungsroman; his later works?the Third Book (which prefigures the philosophical novel) and the Fourth Book are considerably more erudite in tone. His literary legacy gave rise to the word Rabelaisian, an adjective meaning "marked by gross robust humor, extravagance of caricature, or bold naturalism., Size : 8vo. (230 x 160 mm), Near fine example of this finely illustrated work. Complete with 56 illustrations in volume I and 44 in volume II. , Volume : 2 volumes. Occasional spotting, interiors else clean and crisp.…