A CONTROVERSIAL LIFE

[Barbeau de La Bruyère, Jean Louis]: La Vie de M. François de Paris, Diacre. N.pl. n.pr., 1731.

First edition of this life of François de Pâris, including a frontispiece that emphasizes the Deacon’s devotion to Christ. It was printed in the same year in which a series of convulsions are known to have occurred at the Deacon’s tomb (cf. Strayer 2008, p. 245). The work, which celebrates François de Pâris’s life and makes him a devotional focus, was explicitly singled out for condemnation in a Mandement of 1732 (Conlon 32:645). 

The work includes a biography from the Deacon’s birth to his funeral (pp. 1-30), a section on his epitaph (pp. 31-34), and a selection of associated prayers (pp. 35-80). We particularly note prayer 4, ‘Adorer Dieu avec une joie melée de fraieur à la vue des miracles qu’il opere par M. de Paris’ (‘To adore God with a joy mixed with fear at the sight of the miracles he performs through M. de Paris’). It cites Psalm 2 in both French and Latin: ‘Rejouissez vous en Dieu avec tremblement: Exultate ei in cum tremore’ (p. 62, ‘rejoice with trembling’). This biblical reference to trembling seems particularly striking here in light of the wave of activity occurring at Deacon Pâris’s tomb in 1731.

Details

Printed. One volume, approx. 16 x 9.5 cms in binding, pp. [6] 80 [2]. Includes final blank. Frontispiece depicting Deacon Pâris contemplating a crucifix (LE BH FRANÇOIS DE PARIS | MORT APELLANT ET RÉAPELLANT).

Bound in brown calf over boards. Blind-tooled fillet frame to both covers. Five raised bands, spine decorated in gilt, gold-tooled brown goatskin label to second spine compartment (VIE DE M PAR). Gold-tooling to sides. Marbled pastedowns and endpapers. Red speckled edges.

Condition (textblock): light browning, foxing, and waterstaining. Early repair to top margin of sig. B2 and title page (no loss of text in either case). Condition (binding): Rubbing and wear to leather. Joints cracked. Loss to headcap and tailcap. Slight loss to label.

Provenance:

1. Miscellaneous short notes in ink and pencil to endpapers, including ‘G. D. 1868’.
2. Bookseller’s description on paper tipped in to recto of final free endpaper at rear, dated November 2015.
3. Eric de Bellaigue (bookplate to verso of front free endpaper).

Bibliography: 

OCLC shows copies outside mainland Europe in Yale University Library and the University of Chicago. 

This is evidently the third publication condemned in [Vintimille du Luc, Charles-Gaspard-Guillaume de]: Mandement de Monseigneur L’Archeveque de Paris qui condamne trois Ecrits […]. Paris, chez Pierre Simon, 1732 (= Conlon 32:645). It is listed there as ‘Vie de M. de Paris Diacre. 1731.’ We note that pages 45, 46, 59, 60, and 78 of the present edition are quoted on p. 3 of this Mandement.