DE LA SALLE, Jean Baptiste. Les règles de la bienséance et de la civilité Chrétienne. Paris: Jh. Moronval, imprim.-libraire des Frères des Ecoles Chrétiennes. 1827.
Small 8vo. Original vellum-backed mottled boards; pp. 108, main text in civilité type; outer layer of vellum of the spine partly worn away, wear to extremities, contemporary ownership inscription "Ce livre est à Melchior Berthold" to front paste-down; internally crisp and fresh, printed on high-quality laid paper.
Later, but unrecorded, edition of this courtesy book, written by the late seventeenth-century educational reformer, priest and founder of the Institue of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (a religious institution without priests as its members), Saint Jean-Baptiste de la Salle (1651-1719).
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 is a volume written in 1695, and used 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 typeface used in all editions of this book had been introduced in 1557 by the French punchcutter Robert Granjon in imitation of calligraphic French handwriting of the Renaissance.
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