ESTIENNE Charles Proiect du livre de la precellence du langage François.

Renouard, 181, n° 3 ; Schreiber, 250 ; Cioranesco, 9616.

First edition of this work celebrating the French language. 

Dedicated to the French King Henri III this is the third work written by Estienne as a defense of the French language. Schreiber notes: “Estienne not merely recommends the use of French along with Latin as a literary language – as had du Bellay, Pasquier, and Ronsard – but also argues that the qualities peculiar to French make it superior even to Latin as a literary medium (…) Estienne had his book printed by Patisson, in Paris, where he had withdrawn after his squabble with the Geneva Council over the publication of his Deux Dialogues”.

Some occasional foxing. Bookplate “Ludovici Humberti et amicorum”.