DU BELLAY (Joachim).

Louange de la France et du Roy treschrestien Henry II. Ensemble un discours sur la poésie. Paris, Pour Vincent Sertenas, 1560. 8-leaf in-4 booklet, blue Jansenist morocco, interior lace, gilt edges (Devauchelle). First edition of this occasional play in praise of King Henri II. It was shared between Vincent Sertenas and Fédéric Morel. The Praise is followed by Discours au Roy sur la Poësie, in which Du Bellay recalls the timeless power of verse and compares the poet's pen to that of the historian when it comes to preserving the memory of the Powers; thus, after evoking certain great Kings & magnanimous Princes who engraved the glory of their genial deeds in raised marble, he speaks of [....] some others wiser / Wanting to perpetuate the noise of their virtue / By work that could not be destroyed by time, / Who did not fear fire, nor iron, nor storm, / [...] borrowed the hands, / And the immortal labor of learned writers. Early handwritten bookplate on last leaf: Lucas pharmaris (?). Picot, Rothschild, n°3259. - Diane Barbier-Mueller, Inventaire..., n°268.