[Rarebooks] fs: Controversial work on Oracles; nice 1831 prtg.

[Joslin Hall Rare Books]

Fontenelle, M. de [Bernard Le Bovier)  LA STORIA DEGLI ORACOLI. Opere del 
Signor Bern. di Fontenelle.

Naples; R. Marotta e Vanspandoch: 1831.

A charming near-miniature printing of a work on oracles by the important 
French writer and philosopher Bernard de Fontenelle (1657-1757). Educated 
at the Jesuit college of Rouen, a forerunner of Diderot and Voltaire, 
Fontenelle was blocked in his first four attempts to enter the French 
Academy by Racine and Boileau, before finally being elected in 1691.

This controversial book on oracles was first published in 1687. In it 
Fontenelle declares in a pair of essays that oracles were not the 
supernatural product of demons and that further, they did not end with the 
birth of Jesus but rather continued into the early years of the Christian 
church. The Jesuits quickly published a rebuttal of these views of their 
former student, to which Fontenelle did not respond. This charming early 
19th century edition includes a preface giving a history of the controversy.

Hardcover.  2.25"x3.5", 304 pages. Bound in period quarter calf with gilt 
spine rules and title, small gilt spine medallions.  Marbled boards. A very 
nice copy with just a little light rubbing to the covers, a little minor 
browning and a few faint spots. Old, faint ink inscription along the gutter 
of the title page.

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