SEPARATION FROM WOMEN

Cyprian, Saint, of Carthage (pseudo-): De la singularité des clercs, où de l'obligation où sont les ecclesiastiques de vivre separez des dames. Traduit de l'Original latin qui se trouve parmi les oeuvres de saint Cyprien. Avec des notes critiques, & une analyse complete de tout l'ouvrage. A Paris, chez Gabriel Valleyre, fils [...] 1718.

First French edition of this book on the obligation of clergymen to live apart from women ('De Singularitate clericorum'), with the original Latin text at end. Although attributed here to the 3rd-cent. St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, it may in fact have been written by a 4th-cent. Donatist (heretical) bishop called Macrobius (cf. Catholic Encyclopedia). The editor-translator brings the work into service against contemporaries who argue against clerical celibacy (cf. preface).

Details

First edition thus. 12mo., pp. xxxvi 220 [6]. Side- and foot-notes. Woodcut headpieces, one decorative initial. Light browning, a very good copy, bound in contemporary speckled calf, spine gilt, lettering in gilt, edges mottled red; a touch rubbed and bumped with slight cracking to bottom of upper joint but, still, very good. Contemporary bookplate, partly removed, of Joannes Baptista Pingré, possibly a second bookplate removed, more recent label: "Ecole supérieure de Théologie".

OCLC FirstSearch lists, in libraries outside continental Europe, copies only in Quebec and BL.