DU SOUHAIT (François).

Les Divers souhaits d'amour. - The nine French muses. - Beauty and love. Pastorelle. - Le Plaidoyé et jugement des trois graces françoises. - Tragedy of Radegonde duchesse de Bourgongne. Paris, Jacques Rezé, 1599. Together 5 works in one volume in-12, green morocco, triple fillet, ornate spine, interior roulette, gilt edges (Binding circa 1840). Collection of 5 extremely rare poetic works, in first editions, by François du Souhait, a gentleman from Champagne who died in 1615 and was secretary to the Duke of Lorraine. They were all published by Jacques Rezé, a bookseller active in Paris from 1594 to 1606. A similar collection, with the same pieces, appeared in the Soleinne library (I, 1843, no. 873), with this catalog note: Recueil bien difficile à former. Divers souhaits d'amour is dedicated to the Duc de Montpensier and contains amorous stanzas, songs, sonnets and epigrams; it includes a Chanson de la chasse, in 23 lines, which begins with the invitation: Esprits quit l'Amour / Venez suyvre la chasse... The pastorelle is a debate on whether to give preference to beauty or love. Minor wetness to a few leaves. Lachèvre, Poésies libres et satiriques, pp. 207-208. - Diane Barbier-Mueller, Inventaire..., n°316-320.