Mistique, First Edition (6 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. BOOK IS UNREAD; 1" TEAR TO DJ, FRONT RIGHT CORNER + WEAR TO DJ, BOTTOM LEFT CORNER; SLIGHT DENT TO COVER CORNERS, TOP RIGHT; SHIP FREE, MEDIA MAIL, USA.

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good+. 1st Edition. 29pp with b/w photos and illustrations - large paperback - covers slightly rubbed and soiled - light wear to edges - AUTHOR'S SIGNED INSCRIPTION to rear cover - SCARCE. Signed by Author(s).

Couverture souple. Condition: Satisfaisant. 1ère Édition. MAUR DE L'ENFANT-JESUS. Entrée à la divine sagesse, comprise en plusieurs traittés spirituels qui expliquent les plus profonds secrets de la théologie mistique. Bordeaux, J. Mongiron-Millanges, 1652. [Relié avec :] Théologie chrestienne et mistique ou conduite spirituelle pour arriver bien-tost au souverin degré de la perfection. Bordeaux, J. Mongiron-Millanges, 1651. In-8, [6] f., 271 p., 131 p., [2] f. (tables), vélin souple muet. Rare édition originale bordelaise. Maur de l'Enfant-Jésus (1617-1690) était un carme français et un disciple du célèbre mystique aveugle Jean de Saint-Samson, qui inspira la réforme dite de Touraine. L'ouvrage de Maur de l'Enfant-Jésus fut utilisé comme prétexte par Jean Chéron, un carme hostile à la spiritualité de la Réforme de Touraine, pour critiquer les excès d'une théologie mystique s'affranchissant trop librement des cadres épistémologiques de la doctrine théologique orthodoxe. Ce contexte historique joue un rôle clé dans l'attrait du livre. Publié au XVIIe siècle, une époque marquée par un foisonnement d'idées mystiques et philosophiques, il reflète une tentative de synthèse entre foi chrétienne et exploration des dimensions transcendantes de l'existence. Ce cadre historique confère au livre une aura particulière, car il s'inscrit dans un moment où les frontières entre mysticisme, théologie et proto-sciences ésotériques étaient encore poreuses, ce qui en fait un texte incontournable pour ceux qui cherchent à comprendre ces dynamiques. Le livre aborde également des notions comme les secrets des sciences et le discernement entre le bien et le mal, des sujets liés aux mystères cachés du cosmos et aux voies initiatiques. Manques et réparations à la reliure, timbre institutionnel sur la page de titre, un feuillet détaché, des rousseurs, des auréoles et des des défauts mineurs.

First edition of this rare French abridgement of the seventeenth-century Mystica ciudad de dios, a life of the Virgin Mary and the most important work by this Franciscan abbess and mystic. Spiritual adviser to king Philip IV of Spain, Abbess María was reputed to be able to bilocate herself, mystically appearing among missionaries to the Jumano Indians of New Spain. The 'Lady in Blue' or 'Blue Nun' was a major inspiration to Franciscan missionaries in America. 8vo (160 × 100 mm), pp. [16], 1-289, 300-373, [5] (complete despite mispagination after p. 289). Woodcut and typographical ornaments. Slightly dusty. Contemporary quarter calf, spine with 5 raised bands. Rubbed, label and gilt indistinct. Expertly rebacked to style, free endpapers renewed. [OCLC lists no US copies.].

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. (28), 209 (3) pp. Hardcover, bound in later calf over marbled boards. The binding with a crack top rear joint, corners rubbed; text unmarked. French language.

First edition of this controversial and uncommon French work on "religious eccentricities", containing a survey of philosophical, mystic, occult, and esoteric thinkers, and sects from the Middle Ages to the 18th century. After the work's publication, due to its open "derision of the Catholic religion" (Querard, p. 389), Erdan was condemned to a year's imprisonment and a fine of 3,000 francs. Alexandre Erdan, the pseudonym of André-Alexandre Jacob (1826-1878), was a French writer, journalist, and freethinker. La France mistique "takes us from Swedenborg, Fourier, and Mesmer, through a host of lesser-known nineteenth-century prophets and occultists, to the religion of humanity of Auguste Comte" (Wilkinson, p. 137). It opens with "a plea for religious toleration and the separation of Church and State. For Erdan, the Restoration and the reinstatement of the Catholic Church marked a step backwards in the history of France. Erdan writes that the Catholic revival, in both its aesthetic and politically conservative forms, represented a return to the worst aspect of medieval culture" (ibid., p. 137). A decree of the imperial court of Paris, dated 11 October 1855, ordered the destruction of all the copies seized from the publisher. The four engraved portraits depict the Scottish clergyman Edward Irving, the philosopher Auguste Comte (whom Erdan met in person in 1849), the Polish occultist Józef Maria Hoëné-Wro ski, and the religious leader Andrzej Towia ski. Caillet 5437. J. M. Quérard, Le Quérard, par l'auteur de la France littéraire, vol. 1, 1855; L. R. Wilkinson, The Dream of an Absolute Language, 1996. 2 vols in 1, large octavo (222 x 139 mm). With 4 lithographic portraits with tissue guards. Twentieth-century green half morocco, spine lettered in gilt, marbled boards, green endpapers, original green printed wrappers bound in, edges untrimmed. 20th-century illustrated bookplate with initials "N.H." and fittingly mystical laughing devil design to front pastedown, corresponding ownership inscription to verso of front endpaper. Binding sharp with very little rubbing at joints, light soiling to wrappers and very occasional marks to contents, otherwise fresh and clean. A very good copy with wide margins.