ILLUSTRATED TRAVELOGUE
Philippe de Notre Dame de Sept Douleurs, O.A.D. (1620-1692): Abbregé des emploits et voyages faicts en divers Pays par le R. P. Philippe de Notre Dame de Sept Douleurs Religieux Augustin Deschaussé de la province de Daulphiné. France, late seventeenth / early eighteenth century.
This unlocated travelogue, which records the life and experiences of a discalced Augustinian in the seventeenth century, is attractively rubricated and includes three illustrations. The main hand is perhaps that of the author, Philippe of Notre Dame de Sept Doulours (1620-1692), whose travels took him to Rome, Saragossa, and elsewhere. He is presumably identical with the author of printed works on confession and monasticism (cf. OCLC accession nos. 493173965 and 1418331098).
The text opens with a lengthy biographical account, which commences in the third person but mostly continues in the first person. Our author was baptised in Poligny in 1620, and at the age of 18 presented himself to the chapter in Lyon. Two years later, he joined the Regiment of Navarre, and refers to the Siege of Arras (1640; related to the Thirty Years War). In 1648, he studied theology at a convent in Grenoble. The account covers most of his life, with one of the latest events recorded being a stay with R. P. Dominique at the convent of Jesus and Mary in Rome in 1683.
The remainder of the manuscript is mostly given over to a section called ‘Voyages Chemins et distances des lieux et ce qu il y a de plus remarquable en chaque ville’. This travelogue covers locations in France, Italy, and Spain. The author makes reference to important pilgrimage sites such as the Holy House of Loreto. This house is celebrated for being the home in which the Virgin Mary lived and received the Annunciation, miraculously transported from Nazareth to Italy and enshrined in the Basilica of Loreto. Two of the printed illustrations included towards the end of the manuscript depict sites in Rome (Basilica di Santa Maria in Ara Cœli and Villa Montalto), while the third represents the Martyrdom of Saint Barthélemy. Perhaps these were acquired on the scribe/author's travels.
At the end of the manuscript, there are a few short reference notes, including a list of the vicars of Gnaulx between 1642-1684 – extended to 1690 by a second hand. This second hand also appears to be responsible for adding other material, most extensively a 17-page ‘Description de L’abbaye de Sept-fonts, ou de la Trappe’, but possibly also the note on the title page indicating that Philippe died in 1692.
Details
Manuscript, one volume, 115 x 77 mms (in binding), pp. [368] (all but 10 with content). Unruled, mostly written in a single hand, c.15 lines to the page. Title page written in red and black, body text generally rubricated. Towards the end of the textblock, part of a page has been cut away and used to extend the writing space of a nearby page. 3 illustrations (etchings?) pasted in; all trimmed at least to the border of the image (for [2] and [3], part of the edge of the image has been trimmed away):
[1] [Jacques Callot?], Martyrdom of Saint Barthélemy, captioned ‘M. B. Bartholomaei Appos’, and adjacent number 9 (70 x 45 mm). Either part 9 of Callot’s Martiryum Appostolorum, or a series based on it. Cf. Edouard Meaume, Recherches sur la vie et les ouvrages de Jacques Callot... vol. I (Paris, Renouard, 1860), nos. 120-33 (129), and British Museum X,4.112 (in mirror image).
[2] Steps and façade of the Basilica di Santa Maria in Ara Cœli, Rome. Caption ‘Ara coeli’ at top (92 x 58). Unsigned.
[3] Birds-eye view of Villa Montalto in Rome and its surrounding gardens. Caption ‘Gardino di Montalto’ at top (98 x 60 mm). Unsigned. Some MS text evidently obscured underneath this illustration.
Bound in goatskin over boards (repaired, spine relaid). Both covers decorated in gilt with two double-fillet frames and fleurons. Gold-tooled decoration to five spine compartments, gold-tooled dentelles, gilt edges, marbled pastedowns and endpapers.
Provenance: ‘6H’ in pencil (p. [5]).
Condition (textblock): Vertical strip removed from outer margin of title page, occasional tears and defects to blank outer margins. Light browning, spotting and waterstaining to paper. Condition (binding): rubbing to leather, gilt faded, cracking to front hinge.