L'Apocalypse
First edition of The Apocalypse by Bossuet.
Precious copy, complete with The Abridgment of the Apocalypse not listed by Tchemerzine, finely bound at the time in elegant red morocco with the large arms of Michel Le Tellier, Marquis of Louvois.
Red morocco, triple gilt fillet framing the boards, large gilt arms stamped in the center, spine with raised bands richly decorated in gilt, gilt roll on the edges, inner gilt roll, all edges gilt.Contemporary binding.
192 x 122 mm.
Bossuet, Jacques-Bénigne. The Apocalypse with an Explanation.
Paris, widow of Sébastien Mabre-Cramoisy, 1689.
First edition ofThe Apocalypseby Bossuet.
Tchemerzine II, p. 384; Verlaque, p. 42; Bourseaud, p. 18; Soultrait, Bibliothèque J. Bonna XVIIth century, 39 & 40;
“The Apocalypse under Bossuet’s hand becomes a prose poem, heavy with images that slowly arise, unfold, and explode. I regularly reread these two texts: there are not so many, in our language, of these almost hallucinatory attempts that reach for mystery, for prophecy.
The Apocalypse, translated by Bossuet, is not a historical version of the great mystical text; it is the Apocalypse in its entirety, emerging from rain, still soaked in clay, driven by the lyrical impulse that shaped it. It is a youthfulness of language, the definitive Apocalypse, the poetic Apocalypse that carries us all into the abysses of the present.
John, the exile, in a Roman Empire multiplying persecutions against his fellow believers, takes up the images and the torch of the old prophets, and amplifies it even further. Here are the horsemen, the hydra and the serpents, here is the harlot, the warnings, the punishments, the promises, and finally the city being rebuilt, where there is no longer any need to close the gates. Everything is burning, sharp, multiplied. This is what Bossuet undertakes, from the old Greek, before the Latin Vulgate, to restore its density, its abruptness.
But Bossuet builds another underground foundation: the Apocalypse is one of the greatest prophetic poems of our old civilization, and here makes it the upheaval of our modern language.” F. B.
Copy complete with the Epitome of the Apocalypse, in 17 leaves inserted between pages 496 and 497, of which neither Tchemerzine, nor Rochebilière, nor Brunet make mention.
“Neither Brunet, nor Claudin, in the Rochebilière catalogue, mention the 17 leaves for the Epitome of the Apocalypse, inserted between the last chapter of the Apocalypse and the Warning to Protestants” (Cat. De Backer).
Magnificent copy, large-margined, finely bound at the time in red morocco with the arms of Michel Le Tellier, Marquis of Louvois.
François-Michel Le Tellier (1641-1691), Marquis of Louvois and Courtenvaux, was a counsellor at the Parliament of Metz and obtained, on December 13, 1655, the reversion of the office of minister and secretary of state; he became secretary of state for war in 1666, superintendent general of the posts in 1668, chancellor and commander of the King's orders on January 1, 1671, minister of state in February 1672, and superintendent of buildings, arts, manufactures, and commerce of France in September 1684.
Louvois's administration was most remarkable and secured France's military supremacy, but his harshness and ambition provoked several unnecessary wars and the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
