“Century of Saints”and more books from the BnF to be launched on EEB for Collections 10 and beyond
The Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF)/National Library of France
Philosophie, Histoire, Sciences de l'Homme (PHS)/Philosophy, History and Human Sciencesdepartment
Written by BnF curator in June 2016
Clément Index and Subject Categories in the PHS
This new selection of books is drawn from the Philosophy, History and Human Science (PHS) department of the BnF and features sixteenth- and seventeenth century titles published within the borders of modern-day France. The categories of works, themes and authors included in the selection are remarkably diverse. Using the system of categories derived by Nicolas Clément – one-time librarian to Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Prime Minister to Louis XIV, and then, by the end of the seventeenth century, librarian to the King himself – the selection embraces religion (shelfmarks A: bibles with commentaries and concordances; B: liturgy and councils; C: the writings of the Church Fathers; D: Catholic theology and spirituality; D2: Protestantism; E: canon law; H: sacred history and hagiography), as well as philosophy, morality and science (R), in addition to geography and “universal” history (G), Ancient and Mediterranean history (J) and Italian history (K).
Language of texts
With the exception of the history of France, the history of the rest of Europe and of other continents – the subject of a forthcoming collection – the above categories constitute the substantial core of the PHS department. The majority of the selected works are in French and then Latin, and some feature parallel text in Greek. Of particular note is a copy of the famous “Bible polyglotte de Paris” (10 folio volumes in 7 different languages) produced by Antoine Vitré who between 1628 and 1645 was printer to the King and to the clergy.
Place of printing
Unlike previous selections from the BnF which reflected the dominance of Paris and - to a lesser extent - of Lyon in the early-modern French publishing world, this corpus gives wider representation to the provincial press that came to emerge particularly during the seventeenth century. The new selection therefore includes contributions from Rouen, then France’s second city, as well as from Douai (ceded to France in 1668), Caen, Bordeaux, Troyes, Toulouse and a further network of towns both large and small, of bishopric offices, and of courts and schools. This network also includes the many “false imprints” attributed to Cologne or to locations in Northern and Southern Netherlands which concealed French editions dealing in controversial or unorthodox subject areas.
Highlights
More thoroughly than in previous selections, the publishing splendours of the French seventeenth century are here placed in the spotlight. While some subject areas remain represented mainly by editions published during the sixteenth century (bibles and commentaries – including a number of editions by the Dutch Erasmus - , councils, patrology, as well as works of Protestant theology such as a rare John Calvin Catecismo (Catechism) published in Spain in 1559), it is the seventeenth century which dominates the selection.
In philosophy, of particular interest are the editions from the big names of the Grand Siècle such as René Descartes and Nicolas Malebranche, or the so-called “erudite libertines” like Gabriel Naudé (1600-1653). The significance of the seventeenth century is clearer still in the categories of geography and general history where the century’s major reference works are well represented. These titles include a series of editions of the Grand Dictionnaire Historique by Louis Moreri (1643-1680), a further series on world history in French and Latin by the Jesuit Horace Turcelin (Orazio Torsellino), the Rationarium temporum of Father Denis Petau (1583-1652), the learned treatises of fellow Jesuit Philippe Labbé (1607-1667), and in particular his Concordia chronologia published in 5 folio volumes by the Imprimerie Royale. These reference works stand alongside many accounts of travels around the continent (Claude Jordan, Charles Patin, Théodore Turquet de Mayerne, among others) as well as of journeys beyond Europe (José de Acosta, Jean Mocquet, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, Melchisédech Thévenot, Jacques de Villamont and others). Demonstrating a similar diversity, two editions of the Histoire des oracles by Bernard de Fontenelle (1657-1757), a forerunner of the Enlightenment, and two editions from the Discours sur l’histoire universelle by Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet (1627-1704) sit with the anecdotal Histoires tragiques de nostre temps by François de Rosset (1571-1630?), a bestseller spanning a century, as well as the series of “exemplary” and moral stories of the prolific bishop of Belley, Jean-Pierre Camus (1584-1652), published mainly in the provinces.
Coverage of Ancient history and Catholic theology is balanced between French and Latin editions, just as it is between editions published in the sixteenth- and in the seventeenth century. Although Roman history is predominantly covered in Latin through editions of classical authors often published in the sixteenth century, French translations ofhistorians such as Titus Livius, Tacitus, Plutarch, Suetonius, Quintus Curtius, Sallust and Florus abound in the seventeenth century. Meanwhile, modern scholars such as the prelate Nicolas Coeffeteau (1574-1623) and the French historiographer Scipion Dupleix (1569-1661) make their contributions in folio format in their Histoire romaine.
Undoubtedly one of the highlights of this selection, works on theology reflect equally the extensive output of scholarly works and dogma (mainly sixteenth-century titles published in Paris and Lyon), the intensity of the disputes – particularly those surrounding the emergence of Jansenism (from the mid-seventeenth century onwards) - and the progress of “Christian humanism” advocated by St Francis de Sales and extended through a rich literature intended for the faithful, among them Tridentine and diocesan catechisms. The great seventeenth-century debates between Jansenists and Jesuits receive particular attention. Representing the Jansenists, of significant note is the Apologie pour feu messire Jean Du Vergier de Hauranne, abbé de Saint-Cyran and the treaty De la fréquente communion by “Le Grand Arnauld” (Antoine Arnauld, 1612-1694), as well as the Essais de morale by Pierre Nicole (1625-1695) and their Continuation, and several clandestine editions of the Apologie des Lettres provincales [by Blaise Pascale] by Dom Mathieu Petitdidier (1659-1728). As for the Jesuits, the most prominent names include Father Michel Le Tellier (1643-1719), confessor of Louis XIV and promoter of the bull Unigenitus (1713), to whom we owe the controversial Défense des nouveaux chrestiens et des missionnaires de la Chine… Contre la Morale pratique des Jesuites et L’Esprit de M. Arnauld. Also included is Father Gabriel Daniel (1649-1728), whose Reponse aux Lettres provinciales ou Entretiens de Cleandre et d’Eudoxe met with a success that is reflected by the several clandestine editions presented here.
Through these texts, links can be traced between the religious controversies and conflicts that marked the sixteenth century, and the equally virulent debates that characterised the seventeenth century: a century which has been labelled - with good reason - both France’s “Century of Saints” and its “Century of Iron”.