RONSARD Pierre de Le Tombeau du feu Roy Tres-Chrestien Charles IX. Prince tres-debonnaire, tres-vertueux & tres-eloquent.

Tchemerzine V, 465; Barbier, 54.

First edition, first issue, published without a printed date. 

The books contains an epitaph, a sonnet and quatrain by Pierre de Ronsard, followed by one epitaph and two sonnets by Amadis Jamyn. Ronsard (1524-1585) was King Charles IX preferred poet and he delivers here his last reverence to his beloved King who is presented here in the role of Hercules. “The Tombeau Ronsard composes after Charles IX’s untimely death in 1574 returns yet once more – one last time – to the Herculanean theme, replaying even the nursery scene of the child – ‘comme un jeune Herculin’ – assailed by serpents in his cradle… The king’s poetic Tombeau records his many victories, including several battles that probably never fought” (Wes Williams, in: Monsters and their meanig in early modern culture, p. 109). 

Some occasional foxing, else fine.