Les CL. pseaumes de David, mis en vers françois, par Philippes Desportes [Ensemble] Poesies chestiennes

First edition. The title page of the Poesies chrestiennes is dated 1601. Publisher's devices on title pages.
Half wine-colored glazed calf binding ca 1830 in the style of Thouvenin. Spine with raised bands decorated with 3 blind tools and roulettes. Gilt title labels on calf. Marbled edges.
Philippe Desportes (1546-1606), considered by his contemporaries as the greatest living poet, provides the literary transition between Ronsard and Malherbe. Desportes' design was to give French Catholics a translation that would be the equivalent of that of Marot and Theodore de Bèze for the reformed. First published in 1591, numbering sixty, the psalms were increased to one hundred in 1598, and finally to one hundred fifty in 1603.