DE LA SALLE, Jean Baptiste. Les règles de la bienséance et de la civilité Chrétienne, divisées en deux parties.

Excellent Rules for Cultured Manners

DE LA SALLE, Jean Baptiste. Les règles de la bienséance et de la civilité Chrétienne, divisées en deux parties. Paris: Jh. Moronval, imprim.-libraire des Frères des Ecoles Chrétiennes. 1827.

Small 8vo. Original vellum-backed boards with brown paste-paper sides, edges speckled blue; pp. 108, main text in civilité type; spine and extremities somewhat worn; occasional light fading to text, else internally crisp and fresh; contemporary ownership inscription ‘Ce livre est à Melchior Berthold’ to front pastedown.

Later, seemingly institutionally unrecorded edition of this courtesy book (first 1695) by the educational reformer, priest, and founder of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools Jean-Baptiste de la Salle (1651–1719).

The Frères des Ecoles Chrétiennes – for whom this edition was printed – was a male lay congregation dedicated to the teaching and training of disadvantaged youth. By the time of De la Salle’s death, there were two hundred and seventy-four brothers of the congregation teaching almost ten thousand pupils across twenty-three schools. De la Salle's educational drive for the poorer echelons of society had initially been critizised by the Church authorities, but over time it became a worldwide network of schools and teacher training. Based on his own experience of teaching, Les Règles de la bienséance et de la civilité chrétiennes was intended for use as a treatise ‘on politeness and as a text in the reading of manuscripts. The style is simple and direct. It contains excellent rules for cultured manners’ (Catholic Encyclopedia). The work touches on personal hygiene and parts of the body; speaking and pronunciation; getting dressed; eating politely; and conventions of conversation; there follows an appendix of common French homophones.

The typeface used in all editions of this book had been introduced in 1557 by the French punchcutter Robert Granjon in imitation of Renaissance French calligraphic hands.

OCLC finds eight editions printed by Moronval between 1818 and 1836, but none for 1827; no copies of this edition traced on Library Hub or CCfr.

SKU: 2121031