Jean-Antoine de BAÏF. Les Amours. In-8, lemon morocco, triple fillet, beautifully decorated 5-rib spine, inner lace, gilt edges, slipcase (Honnelaître). Brunet, I-612 // Tchemerzine-Scheler, I-239. 103 / a-f8, g4 / 100 x 161 mm. Rare first edition. The natural son of Lazare de Baïf, Jean-Antoine de Baïf, born in Venice in 1532, was a member of the Pléïade group around Ronsard, who had been his pupil at Jean Dorat's school. He was an inventive explorer of the French language, interweaving it with Greek, Latin and dead languages, trying to introduce into French poetry the cadence of ancient verse and a phonetic spelling detached from etymology. His innovations, which included the invention of a new alphabet, were not as successful as he had hoped, but they did make a contribution to the progress of the French language at the time. He founded France's first literary society in 1571 and died in 1589, leaving behind a large number of works (poems, pastimes, games, tragedy, comedy, etc.). He was barely twenty when he published his Amours, his second published work after Le Ravissement d'Europe, published the same year by the same publisher. Previously, he had given a few translations or published a few verses and couplets included in Ronsard's Odes (1550). Comprising two books of sonnets and songs in varying metres, this collection of Amours sings of the poet's passion for the beautiful Méline; it was later entitled Amours de Méline. A very fine copy, washed and finely established by Honnelaître. Restoration affecting a few letters on folio G3.