Hymne au Roy sur la prinse de Callais

First edition, a second edition appeared, with the same publisher, the following year. Printer's device, with the tree, on the title page.
Full-margined copy, entirely ruled in red. Privilege dated 17 January 1557.
Reused binding in full cream vellum probably from the 17th century.
In his Hymne au Roy, du Bellay praises the Duke of Guise who retook Calais from the English, on 8 January 1558, after a week's siege and the death of two hundred Englishmen. Let us recall that Calais had been in English hands since 1347.
Other poets would describe the successes of this enterprise in odes, such as Jean Dorat (1505-1588) or Michel de l'Hospital (ca. 1506-1573).
Following the hymn, one finds a patriotic poem: "evocation of the tutelary gods of Guynes". This last was a small fortress that defended Calais and which fell with that city. The pamphlet ends with "Exécration sur l'Angleterre, et un Sonnet à la Royne d'Escosse".
Handsome copy of this publication in which, like other poets of the Pléiade, Joachim Du Bellay rises to the rank of militant court poet.