Vertus, Maximes, et Prieres Chretiennes: Prieres Chretiennes; Les Pseaumes de la Penitence; Meditations Sur Le Pater & Sur L'Ave Maria; Les Vertus Chretiennes; Instructions Chretiennes; Maximes Chretiennes; Le Combat Spirituel

s.n. (Paris), 1687-01-01. Leather Bound. Good. In French. 1687 no publisher given (Paris), 3 5/8 x 5 3/4 inches tall full leather bound, five raised bands and gilt decoration and lettering to spine, gilt decoration to all board edges, a collection of eight separately paginated religious works whose translation and editing are attributed to French writer and dramatist Jean Desmarets, Sieur de Saint-Sorlin (1595-1676), a total of 184 pages, with each of the eight works paginated separately and four with their own title pages. Mild to moderate rubbing and edgewear to covers, with mild bumping to the tips and slight loss to the upper spine cap. Lacking a front free-endpaper. Otherwise, in very good condition - clean, bright and unmarked. A rare collection of pious works by French writer and dramatist Jean Desmarets de Saint-Sorlin (1595 - 1676). ~K~ In French. No compiler is identified, but a far more abbreviated 1687 imprint with a nearly identical main title page is attributed to French writer and dramatist Jean Desmarets de Saint-Sorlin (1595 - 1676) by the Bibliotheque Nationale de France in its holding YE-20145 at its Rez-de-Jardin research center in Paris (OCLC No. 457737092, the only copy located at institutions worldwide). Following a one-page introduction, the copy offered here includes a total of eight separately paginated works, four with their own title page and some earlier in date than the main title page: 1) Prieres Chretiennes, 1680, with a title page marked with a sphere printer's device suggesting it is among the many 17th century Elzevir imprints which the august printing house did not wish to put its name to, 6 pp. (OCLC No. 762078925, with only two copies located globally); 2) Les Pseaumes de la penitence, 8 pp.; 3) Meditations sur le Pater et sur l'ave Maria, 13 pp.; Au Lector, 1 p.; 4) Les Vertus Chrietiennes, 14 pp.; 5) Instructions Chretiennes, with a title page showing a 1687 Paris identification much like the main title page for the volume, 23 pp. (not in OCLC); 6) Maximes Chretiennes, with a title page showing the same sort of Elzevir sphere as #1 and a 1680 date (two entries in OCLC, No. 470097934), 65 pp.; Le Combat Spirituel, Lorenzo Scupoli's classic translated by Desmarets into French verse, with another 1680 'a la sphere' title page, [4], 44 pp. (one copy on OCLC, No. 406770881, at Bibliotheque Municipale de Lyon); and finally Preceptes De Mariage Envoyez Par S. Gregoire de Nazianze, 6 pp. (not in OCLC). Jean Desmarets, Sieur de Saint-Sorlin (1595 - 1676) was a founding member, and the first to occupy seat 4 of the Academie francaise in 1634. At the urging of Cardinal Richelieu, Desmarets began writing for the theater, producing a comedy long regarded as a masterpiece, Les Visionnaires (1637); a prose-tragedy, Erigone (1638); and Scipion (1639), a tragedy in verse. In his later years Desmarets devoted himself chiefly to producing a number of religious poems, of which the best known is perhaps his verse translation of the Office de la Vierge (1645).