Erasme

1688 · 49228 — Cologne disguised; Paris or the Netherlands: Adrian Le Jeune 1688. First edition. Hardcover. Very good . Duodecimo. Collation: aster.12 2aster.6 A-R12 S4 = 226 leaves. 36 415 1 blankpp. Engraved frontispiece and headpiece; woodcut lettrines head- and tailpieces; printed side notes. Contemporary calf mildly worn at extremities; gilt tooled spine with raised bands gilt lettering piece; edges sprinkled in red. Old inscription cropped from top edge title; one leaf with clean marginal tear just extending into text else fine and crisp throughout.<br /> <br /> First edition of this defense of Jansenism via the celebrated scholar of Rotterdam. Among the works reviewed by Locke for Jean Le Clerc the present title “indicated a new wave of interest in Erasmus†Mansfield. “Jean Richard 1615-1686 wanted to persuade the Roman Catholic Church that in persecuting the Jansenists it was as much in error as it had been when it denounced Erasmus. He also wanted to convince the English monarch that despite appearances to the contrary Erasmus had never adopted any stance outside the Catholic Church†van Herwaarden. The author surely intends the quotation from Cyprian at the verso of the title as a reference to both Erasmians and Jansenists: “This is always the devil’s work to destroy with lies the servants of God and defame their glorious name with false opinions†trans. Mansfield. Early modern reviews were mixed: Bayle considered it a “pity that the author. stopt at the first part of it†General Dictionary 5 1737 “Erasmus†85 note T. Burigny Vie d’Erasme Paris: 1758 judged it “. so badly done and so filled with invectives and declamations that it does not lead one to wish for the second†547; quoted in Mansfield 293n.<br /> <br /> In 1660 the French cleric Jean Richard was imprisoned by the archbishop of Rouen de Harlay a bitter opponent of Jansenism."During this personal crisis he published two works in defense of his Jansenist belief and behaviour. As we shall see there are grounds for believing that his Sentimens. was meant in part at least to achieve the same end. Nevertheless mysteries surround the work: it was published posthumously Richard died in 1686 having been prior of Beaulieu Saint-Avoie since 1673; what we have is the first part and we may only guess at how seriously the promise of a second part was intended. As it stands this is an ill-organized book repetitive with many digressions but filled with a naive enthusiasm and fascinating partly because of the evidences of a sound judgment about Erasmus partly because of the tantalizing but insoluble problem of the author’s aims. The avowed aim was proselytism. The book is dedicated -- on the eve of the Revolution of 1688 -- to James II of England a new Theodosius who is hazarding three kingdoms for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. May it help the English people to follow the king’s example in conversion to Catholicism by showing them the true character of Erasmus’ religion" Mansfield. References: Barbier 4:467. J. v. Herwaarden Between Saint James and Erasmus Studies in Late-Medieval Religious Life 598; Jöcher 3:2078; VD17 12:110664Q. For a thorough discussion see B. Mansfield Phoenix of His Age: Interpretations of Erasmus c. 1550–1750 Toronto 1979 163–174. Locke’s review appears in Bibliotheque universelle et historique VII 1688: 106-122. Adrian Le Jeune hardcover