BELLEFOREST (François de). Harengues militaires, et concions de princes, capitaines, embassadeurs, et autres manians tant la guerre que les affaires d'Estat. Paris, Nicolas Chesneau, 1573. In-folio, fawn calf, framed with gilt fillet, large azure medallion in the centre, ornate spine, DG figure repeated twelve times in the caissons, spotted edges (Binding of the period). First edition of this monumental anthology of military harangues, dedicated to Louis IV de Gonzague, Duke of Nevers and Prince of Mantua, and remarkably printed by Nicolas Bruslé for the bookseller Nicolas Chesneau. It is dated either 1572 or 1573, but the final printing is dated 18 November 1572 in both editions. This vast compilation brings together hundreds of military and civil speeches by nearly eighty ancient and modern authors, from Thucydides, Herodotus, Xenophon, Flavius Josephus and Julius Caesar to Machiavelli, the Aretin, Martin du Bellay, and many generals and ambassadors of the author's time. The work was republished in Paris in 1588 and in Geneva in 1595. A native of the ancient county of Comminges, Belleforest (1530-1583) was a prolific writer, poet, historiographer, cosmographer and translator, associated with Ronsard, Belleau and Baïf in particular, and a protégé of Marguerite de Navarre. A fine copy, with wide margins, in a sumptuous fawn calf binding decorated with the cipher of a contemporary. From the library of the Dukes of La Rochefoucauld at the Château de La Roche-Guyon, with ex-libris stamp. Not included in the 1987 sale. Fine restorations to the binding; light wetness to the last leaves. Adams, B-511 - Brunet, I, 754 - Index Aureliensis, n°116112 - Bertelli & Innocenti, XVI, n°153.