Martin DU BELLAY

First edition, rare. Printer's device on title page. Edition prepared by René Du Bellay, author of the epistle. Decorated initials.
Seventeenth-century binding in full glazed blonde sheep. Decorated spine with raised bands. Tan morocco title label. Head torn away. Upper joint split; lower joint partly split. A library label at head. Traces of dampstaining on the last leaves of text and index, but paper overall fresh. Corners very bumped, with borders partly worn.
Undoubtedly the most important chronicle of François I's reign by important actors and witnesses of that time; the Du Bellay brothers were indeed in the king's service as soldiers. These memoirs cover the period from 1513 to 1547 and relate the battles in which Martin Du Bellay took part, from the end of Louis XII's reign until the death of François I.