PAQUELIN (Guillaume).

Apologeme pour le grand Homere, contre la reprehension du divin Platon sur aucuns passages d'iceluy. Lyon, Charles Pesnot, 1577. In-4, purple half-chagrin with corners, double gilt fillet, ornate spine, gilt edges (Petit succr de Simier). First edition, dedicated to the illustrious Parlement de Dijon. This rare work, by Beaune-born lawyer Guillaume Paquelin (1575-1632), is the earliest French-language apology for Homer. At the end, it includes a sonnet by the author, addressed to the good city of Beaune, and an Ode on the misery of unrest: [...] Nous souillons misérables / Nos mains de nostre sang, / Et tornons detestables / Le glaive en nos flanc: / Nous appellons en proye / Gens pour nous outrager, / Et quasi comme Troye / Tombons soubz l'estranger. A handwritten note indicates that the volume comes from the Gloria library (sale March 23, 1893). Engraved bookplate Louis Maldant. Washed copy, with some freckling and parts of the text a little faded; old annotations in pen in the margins of a dozen leaves are also faded. Baudrier, t. III, p. 142. - Diane Barbier-Mueller, Inventaire..., n°582.