[LITURGY.] BELLEGARDE, [Jean-Baptiste Morvan de], Abbé. L’Office de la Semaine-Sainte, a l’usage de la maison du roy … en latin et en françois … avec l’explication de Cérémonis de l’Eglise, et des Instructions …

In a Dubuisson Binding

[LITURGY.] BELLEGARDE, [Jean-Baptiste Morvan de], Abbé. L’Office de la Semaine-Sainte, a l’usage de la maison du roy … en latin et en françois … avec l’explication de Cérémonis de l’Eglise, et des Instructions … Paris: Jacques Collombat. 1748.

8vo. Contemporary red morocco, large gilt ‘Debuisson plaque’ to covers, upper and lower edges roll-tooled in gilt, armorial supralibros of the D’Apchon at centre (see below), spine gilt in compartments and lettered directly in gilt, gilt edges, blue silk place-marker, marbled endpapers; pp. 708, text in parallel French and Latin; copper-engraved frontispiece and title-page, 4 engraved plates by Jean-Baptiste Scotin (b. 1678) after Antoine Humblot (d. 1758), woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces; occasional small stain, small hole to inner margin of engraved title and frontispiece (not affecting printed area), publishing year in Arabic numerals in a twentieth-century hand in blue ink to title; corners bumped and rubbed, joints with small repairs; generally very good.

A handsome illustrated edition of the offices for Holy Week in French and Latin, edited by the abbot Jean-Baptiste Morvan de Bellegarde (1648–1734), this copy in an armorial binding à décor rocaille by Pierre-Paul Dubuisson (fl. 1742–1762).

The editor, Bellegarde, spent seventeen years as a Jesuit before joining the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary, founded by Francis de Sales and Jane Frances de Chantal. He authored numerous works on ethics, religion, and education, and is best known for his books on polite behaviour and conversation, as well as his translations from Latin of classical and ecclesiastical authors. His works also include a history of travel, covering voyages in both the Old and New Worlds (Paris, 1707). Bellegarde’s edition of the Semaine Sainte first appeared in 1727 and was reissued several times during the eighteenth century.

The elaborate gilt decoration on the covers of this Office de la Semaine-Sainte was applied with a single large plaque. Plaque tooling became increasingly popular in the mid-eighteenth century, when René Dubuisson (d. c. 1776) and his son Pierre-Paul used the technique to accelerate the production of richly decorated bindings, particularly for almanacks. Piere-Paul Dubuisson was appointed Binder to the King of France in 1758.

The armorial supralibros almost certainly belongs to Claude Marc Antoine d’Apchon de Corgenon (1721–1783). Son of the marquis of Montrond, he initially pursued a military career before entering the Church, becoming bishop of Dijon and later archbishop of Auch. He owned a large and valuable library. The French marquis’s coronet appears to have been modified with small tools to obscure its pearls and leaves, perhaps following D’Apchon’s investiture as bishop of Dijon in 1755.

OCLC records only four copies of this edition in the US (LoC, Morgan, NYPL, and Yale) and one in the UK (Sheffield). Library Hub adds two further copies (Aberdeen and Bristol).

Cohen-de Ricci, col. 762 (for the 1741 edition). For the binding, see French Decorative Bookbinding – Eighteenth Century: Pierre-Paul Dubuisson – Plaque Inventory, 184 g (online, cf. Rahir, Livres dans de riches reliures, 1910, no. 37). Coat of arms: cf. Olivier pl. 1600; Guigard I, p. 62.

SKU: 2121346