[Charles ESTIENNE]. La guide des chemins de France. - Les Voyages de plusieurs endroits de France : & encores de la terre Saincte, d'Espaigne, d'Italie, & autres pays. The rivers of the kingdom of France. Ibid, id. 1552. Set of 2 works in a small volume, 8 pages, contemporary brown calf with gilt fillet decoration formed by a rhombus within a rectangle with a large central gilt fleuron, 6-rib spine decorated with a repeated fleuron, gilt edges (Contemporary binding). Barbier, II-587, IV-1100 // Brunet, II-1808 // Cioranescu, 9564-9568. I. (8f.)-207 / *8, a-n8 // II. 113-(3f.) / a-g8, h4 // 88 x 129 mm. First editions of these two works, which should not be separated as the second frequently refers to the first. Charles Estienne, the third son of the famous printer Henri Estienne, was born in 1504. With a solid education, he decided to study medicine and was awarded a doctorate. He later became tutor to Jean-Antoine de Baïf, son of Lazare de Baïf, and accompanied them to Germany, where he made friends with the great scholars of the time, including Paul Manuce. In 1545, he published a work on the dissection of parts of the human body. After his brother Robert left France to escape religious persecution, he took over the printing workshop in order to protect the interests of his nephews while practising his healing art. He published several works, was appointed King's Printer, obtained from Henry II the release of the sequestration order placed on his nephews' assets, was the author of Moreri's dictionary and the Maison rustique, published the Thesaurus Ciceronianus in 1557, which he hoped would boost the printing works' finances, vegetated for a few years and was imprisoned for debts at the Châtelet in 1561. He died there three years later in 1564, abandoned by everyone, even his nephews for whom he had been so devoted. His Guide des chemins de France shows the roads as they were three centuries earlier, with the etymology of the old names. In a note to the reader (f.2), he indicates that he has left wide margins so that anyone can add to it. The second work is a complement to the first and is devoted to pellerinages or voyages to holy places, with a full description of the rivers of France. A very attractive copy despite some restorations. A copy from the library of the Princes of Oettingen-Wallerstein bearing their stamp and, on the first flyleaf, a handwritten mark in ink: Arc: 256 Nro: 2ii. The library of the Princes of Oettingen-Wallerstein was partly composed of works from the Marcus Fugger collection (see no. 136 in this catalogue). It was partially dispersed in four sales in 1933-1935; this copy appears in the fourth sale. Provenance: Princes of Oettingen-Wallerstein (stamp, IV, 7 May 1935, no. 368).