[DULAURENS (Henri-Joseph, Abbé)]. Histoire de la Sainte Chan - Lot 96

[DULAURENS (Henri-Joseph, Abbé)]. Histoire de la Sainte Chandelle d'Arras. Reprinted verbatim from the original 1745 edition, augmented with curious notes and a necessary Preface. Published by Henri Kistemaeckers, Brussels, sd [c. 1880]. In-8 havana half-chagrin with corners, ornate spine, gilt title, double gilt fillet, marbled head (A. Pierson rel. ?). Etched frontispiece after Félicien ROPS, printed on Japon. Very slight foxing in a few places. A fine copy. "A licentious, anti-religious poem [...] Abbé Dulaurens was born in Douai in 1719. After unsuccessfully requesting his transfer to the Cluny order, he left the monastic life to devote himself to literature, and came to Paris for this purpose. Soon persecuted for publishing free and irreligious writings, he was forced to flee to Amsterdam, Liège and Frankfurt. He was unable to make enough money from his pen, and persecution followed him everywhere. In 1767, the Ecclesiastical Chamber of Mainz condemned him to perpetual imprisonment; he was confined to the convent of Mariabom, where he ended his days in 1797. He had wit, imagination and prodigious facility. He composed Le Balai, a poem of no less than 6,000 lines, in 22 days. La Chandelle d'Arras, which contains as many lines, was begun on September 2, 1765, and went to press on the 17th of the same month. These poems are not as good as Voltaire's Pucelle, but they are not devoid of satirical verve and original thoughts, often happily expressed. We recall that his novel Le Compère Mathieu was even attributed to Voltaire."" Gay (Gay I, 533.) Expert : Madame Elvire POULAIN-MARQUIS