DU BELLAY (Joachim). La Defense et illustration de la langue françoise, avec L'Olive de nouveau augmentée, la Musagnæomachie, L'Anterotique de la vieille et de la jeune Amie, Vers lyriques, etc. Paris, Federic Morel, 1561. 2 parts in one small volume in-4, stiff vellum, smooth muted spine, speckled edges (Early binding). Fourth edition of the Défense et illustration de la langue française, after the original of 1549 and the two editions published by Arnoul l'Angelier in 1553 and 1557. It is followed by L'Olive et autres œuvres poetiques by Joachim Du Bellay, which forms the fourth edition of L'Olive - after those of 1549, 1550 and 1554 - and the only one, apart from the original, to have been attached to the Défense with a common privilege for both works (which were perhaps sold separately, even though L'Olive is mentioned in the title of the Défense, according to J. P. Barbier-Mueller). This volume is a forerunner of the first collective edition of Du Bellay's works, published by Federic Morel in 1568 and 1569, in the form of separate fascicles, which were brought together in a factitious collection under separate pagination and titles. The first collective edition with continuous pagination dates from 1573. A fresh, well-preserved copy bound in antique vellum. Two fine cuts to the spine. Barbier-Mueller, III, nos. 26 and 27 - Tchemerzine-Scheler, III, 40c and 43g.