The letter is dated March 15, 1549, the day after the festival (p. [7]). It is signed on the last p.: A.B Louis, duc d'Orleans and 2nd son of Henry II of France, died in infancy. The celebration on the Piazza dei Santi Apostoli was organized by the French ambassador, Cardinal Jean du Bellay. It included chivalric ceremonies, dramatic presentations, comic performances and music. Orazio Farnese, grandson of pope Paul III, was a prominant participant. See B. Mitchell, Italian civic pageantry in the high Renaissance, p. 130-31 (where the date is given as March 4, 1549, rather than March 14) Woodcut vignette on t.p. with arms of France. Initial Binding: modern, pasteboard covered with tan paper printed in double columns of Latin rotunda, occasional rubrication. Title written in black ink on spine: 1549. ROMA 1549 FESTA p. NASCITA DUCA D'ORLEANS