[Rarebooks] fa: LES VIES DES SS. PERES DES DESERTS D'ORIENT & D'OCCIDENT 1716 - Fine Bindings/Plates

[ArCh]

Auction ending Sunday, October 2. Images and more details can be found at the URL below or by searching for the seller name arch_in_la. 

https://tinyurl.com/yjrjkb96

Many thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
Ann Arbor, MI, USA


[Joseph-Francois Bourgoin de Villefore]: Les Vies des SS. Peres des Deserts d'Orient [et d'Occident]. Avec des Figures qui representent l'austerite de leur vie, & leurs principales occupations. Brusselle [Brussels]: François Foppens, 1716. Five volumes (complete), small 8vo (16.5 cm), in early/period full polished calf, gilt-tooled spines and spine labels, marbled endpapers, page edges dyed red; [22], 356 pp.; [6], 316 pp.; 326, [2] pp.; [2], 374, [2] pp.; [6], 317, [1] pp.; woodcut device to titles, engraved frontispieces, and literally hundreds of engraved full-page plates, including 6 folding plates in vol. iv.

An uncommon early printing (not found in OCLC WorldCat) of this richly illustrated collection of the lives of holy hermits, religious recluses and solitary saints. The folding plates include views and/or plans of: the Hermitage of the Camaldolese (Camaldules); the Monastery of la Grande Chartreuse; and Monastere des Carmes Dechausses. The last volume, bearing the title, Les Vies des Saintes Solitaires d'Orient et d'Occident, brings female saints and martyrs into the picture.

A ding to the upper board of vol. v, otherwise only modest rubbing and wear to the bindings; rear blank endpapers with the discreet blindstamp of Neatham Mill Library (no other library markings), three early leaves in vol. I with damp-stain to the bottom edges, occasional light browning and offsetting from the plates, a few scattered small spots hear and there, else the contents are exceedingly clean, crisp, fresh and bright, firmly and handsomely bound. A lovely set.