THE BODY OF THE ORATOR
[Education] Darmaillac, Ger[ard?]: Operis oratorii genesis, auth P. Dom. Ger. Darmaillac rhet. profess. In collegio Annessiēsi [Annecy] 1667.
Unpublished and charmingly presented manuscript introductory textbook to rhetoric, probably written by a professor of the Barnabite college of Annecy in southeastern France, a collège de plein exercice (school teaching the full humanities course) founded by the diplomat Eustache Chappuis (1489-1556), and administered from 1614 by the Barnabite order (Congregation of Clerics Regular of St. Paul). The author would likely have been a colleague of the writer and Annecy professor Maurice Arpaud (Mauritio Arpio) (1607-1687).
Titled "Foundations of the work of the orator", the book has early chapters on the mind of the orator, the body of the orator, arts of oratory and rhetorical education, and rhetorical exercises. The author then discusses fully the aims and parts of oratory, including (fols. 118 verso - 120 verso) sections on the use of memory. Six pages at end comprise a chapter index.
The author (fols. 5 verso -6 recto) notes the three parts of the body which the orator uses to display their wit: the eyes, the tongue and the hand. He notes that the orator's body should ideally have "a graceful conformity, and excellent constitution of every part, as well as elegant manual dexterity".
Description
Manuscript. One volume, 20.4 cms. x 15.6 cms. in binding, fols. [1] (title-page), 1-132, 132[bis]. Title-page ruled in red and black with lettering in red and depiction in red and black of a dog. Headings in black, perked with red, blank patterns left in the letters to create a marbling effect. A new heading pasted over an old one at fol. 27 recto. Light browning, the odd stain, title-page slightly soiled, bound in brown polished calf, spine with four raised bands, stamped decoration to spine including flowers or thistles (traces of gilt). Edges sprinkled red. Binding rubbed, stained and a bit worn with the odd wormhole, top joint slightly sprung.
Provenance: inscriptions to front free endpaper recto of Joannes Maria Jacquier (stated to be a reverend and curate of Vegy (probably Veigy-Foncenex); also "Marchant [Marchand] et amicorum", and marked, as "nunc" (now, i.e., in context, subsequent to Jacquier), Philippe [?]Granjeux.
Bibliography
Bibliothèque Nationale de France, 'Maurice Arpaud (1607-1687)'. https://data.bnf.fr/fr/10519496/maurice_arpaud/ (last accessed 24 May 2024).
Compère, Marie-Madeleine, Julia, Dominique, '74 ANNECY, collège chapuisien, collège de plein exercice'. In: id., Les collèges français, 16e-18e siècles. Répertoire 1 - France du Midi. Paris: Institut national de recherche pédagogique, 1984, pp. 52-63 (Bibliothèque de l'Histoire de l'Education, 10), https://www.persee.fr/doc/inrp_0000-0000_1984_ant_10_1_6830
Ungarelli, Aloisius Maria, Bibliotheca scriptorum e Congregatione Clerr. Regg. S. Paulli vol. I (of 1?) (Rome, 1836).