François de BELLE-FOREST. L'Histoire des neuf Roys Charles de France : contenant la fortune, vertu, et heur fatal des Roys, qui sous ce nom de Charles ont mis à fin des choses merveilleuses Paris, P. L'Huillier, 1568. In-folio, fawn calf, decoration on the boards composed of a large rectangular iron with foliate pattern, repeated, forming a frame and a central fleuron, modern spine with 4 nerves (Binding of the period restored). Brunet, VI-23336 / Cioranesco, 3388 / Hoefer, V-236 /// (6f., the last blank)-684-(19f.). First edition of this work which earned its author the title of historiographer of France. François de Belleforest (1530-1583), fatherless, was taken in by Marguerite, queen of Navarre, sister of François 1er. Destined to the bar, he abandoned this path to devote himself to poetry. Receiving many praises for his talents as a poet in his province of Guienne, he went to Paris where he made friends with the poets of his time, Baif, Ronsard, Belleau, but, no longer receiving the same praise in the capital as in his province, he turned to prose and especially to history. His Histoire des neuf Roys Charles de France is rather curious; Dedicated to Charles IX, it tends to prove that God marked the times of the Charles of France, as for an object of perfection of the princes who carried this title all the Charles are admirable to me and it is the occasion that choosing the only subject to draw up a history of it, I collected the most exquisite and singular of their life, to offer it to this blessed and beloved of God, who at present governs the kingdom of the French Printer's mark on the title, woodcut bands and initials. Binding restored with the spine redone, one leaf rebacked.