Opuscules de Thomas a Kempis, Opuscules de Thomas a Kempis, Traduits du Latin D'Horstius [Minor Works of Thomas a Kempis, Translated Into French from the Latin Edition Edited by Horstius]

Chez Guillot, 1785. Hardcover. Good. In French. 1785 Chez Guillot (Paris), 4 x 6 5/8 inches tall full leather bound, five raised bands, extensive gilt decoration and gilt-lettered leather label to spine, all page edges marbled, marbled endpapers, xxiv, 525 pp. Slight soiling, rubbing and edgewear to covers, with particular wear to spine caps and tips of boards. Period Lyon, France private library bookplate to front pastedown. Period prior owner name to blank front free-endpaper. Catholic religious stamp to title page, which has a bit of foxing and marginal soiling. A bit of foxing, mainly to a very few front and rear leaves. Otherwise, a very good copy - clean, bright and unmarked - of this rare collection. OCLC (Nos. 469592302 and 407084726) locates only two copies in collections worldwide - at Bibliotheque municipale de Lyon and at the Bibliotheque nationale de France in Paris. ~SP11~ [1.5P] First edition of the translation by French theologian Jean-Baptiste Sebastien Colomme (1712-1788), the Opuscules are works of spirituality distinct from the Imitation of Jesus Christ, the mystical treatise in Latin which, after years of controversies, late in the nineteenth century was finally definitively attributed to Thomas a Kempis (circa 1380-1471), Augustinian monk, priest, copyist and scholar. Includes The Soliloquy of the Soul, The Valley of Lilies, The Three Tabernacles, Groans and Sighs of a Penitent Soul Or True Compunction of Heart, and An Exhortation to Spiritual Advancement. Translated into French by R.P. Colomme, who used the version of Kempis' Latin opera omnia edited by Jacob Merlo Horstius (1597-1644), a prominent doctor of theology known as an effective preacher at the Lyskirchen in Cologne and a prolific editor of sacred texts.