CALVIN (Jean). Le Premier [- Second] livre des Commentaires sur les Actes des apostres. Genève, Philibert Hamelin, 1552-1554. 2 volumes in one in-4, brown calf, double gilt fillet with fleurons at the corners, oval gilt fleuron in the centre, spine decorated with a small gilt fleuron, smooth edges (Binding of the period). Extremely rare first edition, especially complete with the two books published two years apart. The first is dedicated to King Christian III of Denmark and the second to his son and successor Frederick II. It was printed in Geneva by Philibert Hamelin, a former priest from Chinon who converted to Calvinism and travelled throughout France selling his religious propaganda and spreading the ideas of the Reformation through preaching. As a result, he was sentenced to death for heresy in Bordeaux, where he was strangled and burnt at the stake in 1557. He had been one of the founders of the Reformed church in Saintes. Philibert Hamelin's name appears on both titles, unlike some copies printed without an address. A copy with a few handwritten annotations in the margins and the Amargier bookplate inscribed at the time at the top of the title. Spine rebacked, boards restored, gilt oxidized, rare foxing. Peter & Gilmont, nos. 52/1a & 54/1a - Chaix-Dufour-Moeckli, pp. 19 & 23 - GLN-246 & 302.