DU BELLAY (Martin and Guillaume). - Lot 29

DU BELLAY (Martin and Guillaume). Memoirs of Mess. Martin Du Bellay Seigneur de Langey. Contenans le discours de plusieurs choses advenües au Royaume de France, depuis l'an M.D.XIII. Iusques au trespas du Roy François premier, aus lesquels l'Autheur a inséré trois livres, & quelques fragmens des Ogdoasdes de Mess. Guillaume du Bellay seigneur de Langey son frere. Paris: Pierre L'Huillier, 1569. In-folio, 340x224: (6 ff.), 136, 10 ff., ff. 137-352 ill-foliated 350, (6 ff.). Brown calf, gilt filleting, gilt fleurons at corners, and gilt azure medallion of interlacing and arabesques at center on covers, ornate ribbed spine, gilt edges (period binding). Posthumous first edition dedicated to King Charles IX, published by René Du Bellay, son-in-law of the diplomat Martin Du Bellay (1495?-1559). These memoirs cover the years 1513 to 1547 and are of great interest for the diplomatic and military history of this period. It was Guillaume Du Bellay (1491-1543), Martin's elder brother, who initiated these historical memoirs. Taking Titus Livius as his model, he wanted to group his books into Ogdoades, following the example of the Latin historian's Decades. His many military and diplomatic missions prevented him from pursuing his editorial work as he had wished, but he was able to gather extensive documentation. Although he died prematurely in 1543, it is not known how many of the Ogdoades were completed, and only a few fragments have come down to us. Jean Du Bellay, one of his brothers, was first entrusted with the task of completing the Memoirs, but gave up in 1553. Only Martin was left to complete the work. He began work in 1555 and completed it before 1558. Of the 10 books that make up these Mémoires, three are entirely Guillaume's own, namely books V, VI and VII, covering the period from 1536 to 1540. It was to present them with dignity that Martin wrote books I to IV and VIII to X, from 1513 to the death of François I in 1547. However, the books he wrote contain many borrowings from the Ogdoades fragments left by Guillaume. A copy in contemporary binding, with a few old notes in the margins. Binding badly restored, the spine having been rebound. Worm holes in the lower margins of the leaves. Some minor marginal dampening. Provenance: old signature on title.