The work was first printed in English in 1657, as Les provinciales: Or the Mysterie of Jesvitisme. The present edition is illustrated with an oversized, folding plate depicting prominent Jesuits.  The second section (the “Additionals”) has a separate title-page.

Our caption is the first title's epigraph.

•  ESTC R5437; Wing (rev. ed.) P641 & 642; Lowndes 1208; PMM 140 (on the first edition).   Period-style mottled calf, covers framed and panelled in gilt rules with gilt-stamped corner fleurons, spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title-label. Frontispiece (Moses delivering the law), a few preliminary leaves, and final advertising leaves lacking; text complete despite skip in pagination and fold-out plate present. Title-page with early inked numerals and institutional rubber-stamp. Light waterstaining to outer and lower page portions; otherwise, the odd spot only.  (24874)

•  DeBacker-Sommervogel, II, 1092–95 (for other eds.).   Contemporary vellum, spine with inked title; lightly soiled, front cover with partially effaced early inked ownership inscription and back cover with faded early inked inscription. Front pastedown institutionally rubber-stamped, front free endpaper lacking, title-page with early inked ownership inscription partially effaced (resulting in small holes). Pages age-toned, with occasional foxing.  (24349)

Following the piece is the text of a letter from Bougeant to Abbé Savalette of the Jesuit Council, in which Bougeant describes his regret at having brought about so much turmoil, renounces the positions taken in the Amusement, and notes that he would have chosen to suppress the work if it had been in his power to do so. The volume closes with a lengthy catalogue of books published by Pierre Humbert in Amsterdam from 1734 through 1740.

Provenance: Front pastedown with small bookplate of Augustine Legillon, dated 1809.

•  DeBacker-Sommervogel I, 1879. Contemporary speckled calf with expectable acid-pitting; remarkably skillfully rebacked with the original gilt extra spine restored, and bearing a gilt-stamped leather title label. Advertising leaves with a few inked annotations in an early hand. Overall a very nice copy.

Click the interior image for an enlargement.

The New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia notes that Dominique Bouhours (1632–1702) was best known to English readers as the author of this much-reprinted work and an earlier life of Ignatius of Loyola; for a long time these were “the most widely circulated biographies” of the two saints. Bouhours also achieved prominence for his anti-Jansenist writings.

The pair of volumes were nicely printed, with some nicely engraved head- and tailpieces. The text offers sidenotes.

Rare.  A search of OCLC records only two copies, of which this is one, now deaccessioned.

•  De Backer-Sommervogel, I, 1904–1905; Cordier, Bibliotheca Japonica, 146.   Recent full calf, covers framed and panelled with single gilt fillets and with gilt-stamped corner fleurons; spines gilt extra, with gilt-ruled raised bands, gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels, gilt publication date at foot, and elaborately gilt-tooled floral decorations in compartments; marbled endpapers. Tear in outer margin of pp. 269/270, just barely touching sidenotes; very occasional foxing; offsetting from leather of previous binding affecting first and last leaves at margins, including title-pages. Ex-library, with faint penciled notations on verso of title-page and at base of following page in each volume. Vol. I lacks the frontispiece portrait. Faults noted, still a good copy and in an attractive binding.  (24526)

This work was first published in 1613, and the title-page of the first edition exists in two states, of which this—with the author’s name after the title and “Apud” before the publisher’s name—is apparently the less common. The title is printed within an engraved architectural border depicting the theological and cardinal virtues, while the text is decorated with a few woodcut initials, woodcut and typographic headpieces, and a simple tailpiece at the end. A further edition was issued in Lyons in 1614.

•  DeBacker-Sommervogel, II, 439. Vellum over paste boards, covers sprung and moderately soiled; remnants of paper shelf label at base of spine. Bookplate and shelf label affixed to front pastedown; endpapers lightly soiled and pastedowns tearing along turn-ins. Text lightly age-toned with a very light old waterstain to lower and outer margins. Two shallow tears into the engraved border of the title-page, one with a little loss; a few leaves shallowly tattered on the top edge and a few with small holes in the margins. All edges red, faded.

Thetwo oversized, folding maps were engraved by T. Conder; a genealogical chart in vol. I shows the descent of the Mexican kings from the 13th century, whilenumerous engraved plates depict Mexican artifacts, costumes, activities, flora and fauna, architecture, etc.

Vols. I–III consist of a history of the Society of Jesus from its origins up to the time of this printing, with bibliographic references. Vols. III–IV contain the “Articles de l'Analyse des Constitutions & Privilege,” attributed to Louis-Adrien Le Paige (cf. Barbier, Dict. des Ouvrages Anon.). The table of contents appear at the end of vol. IV. Vols. V–VI are the Supplement aux Quatre Volumes Précédens with the imprint: “Amsterdam, Chez J. Schreuder, 1767.”

Provenance:  From the collection of 19th-century scholar Dr. Johann August Neander (1789–1850), a convert from Judaism who became a leading scholar of Christian church history.

Scarce: OCLC and NUC Pre-1956 locate only three copies.

•  Uncut set. Each volume in a recent burgundy moiré cloth dust jacket with title and volume number gilt-stamped on green leather spine labels; this over 19th-century paper boards with paper hand-lettered title label, and paper shelf label with library call number blacked out, on spine. Covers moderately soiled and spines darkened; surface abrasions on spine and edges, small chips on joints; corners bumped. Deckle edges. Text with only a faint staining and foxing on several pages; four-digit numeral neatly inked at base of vol. I title-page; very occasional notations; and library bookplate on front pastedowns. Handsome on the shelf, comfortable in the hands.  (23964)