Pierre de Ronsard

The bindings scholar Pascal Ract-Madoux named the Ronsard Binder for this set of Pierre de Ronsard’s works. It is missing the last volume, which was already absent when the Conflans library inventory was compiled circa 1617, but it reaffirms the close connection between the poet and the Laubespine family. Revised by Ronsard himself, this 1567 collection of his works is one of the most important lifetime editions: it contains the definitive text of four seasonal hymns, each addressed to one of the four secretaries of state. The “Autumn Hymn” is dedicated to Claude II de Laubespine, who is also the subject of a sonnet that expresses perfectly the relationship between poet and patron: “I am the ship, you are my pilot: without you, sir, I cannot sail the seas.”