BRÉVIAIRE DE POITIERS. Lot n° 66

Breviarium pictaviense. Poitiers, Jean-Félix Faulcon, 1765. 4 volumes in-12, red morocco, large lace of scrolls and small gilt irons, coat of arms in the centre, smooth spine decorated, small repeated coat of arms in the tail, fillet on the edges, inner lace, lining and endpapers in Augsburg paper, gilt edges (Binding of the time). First edition of the Poitevin breviary published under the authority of Mgr de Beaupoil de Saint-Aulaire, bishop of Poitiers. It is decorated with 10 plates by Gravelot, engraved in intaglio by Baquoy (7), Rousseau (2) and Duclos (1). The frontispiece, showing the bishop of Poitiers offering his breviary to the Church, being repeated in the four volumes and the two versions of King David kneeling before the Ark of the Covenant being each repeated, the work contains 15 plates out of text. Moreover, each volume has on the title the bishop's coat of arms engraved on wood and contains, in fine, a few pages of notated music. Superb present copy in red morocco with lace bearing the arms of Martial-Louis de Beaupoil de Saint-Aulaire (1719-1798), bishop of Poitiers from 1759 to 1791. Elected deputy of the clergy to the Estates-General of 1789, he sat among the most obstinate defenders of the Old Regime and was the opponent of all the innovations and reforms proposed by the assembly. Refractory to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, he emigrated and died in Germany. The endpapers of the volumes are made of a beautiful paper with stars and golden pastilles on which the address of its manufacturer is still visible - a rare thing: Johann Luppus Ehinger, a dealer in gilt and Turkish paper in Augsburg in the years 1754-1780. From the library of the Visitation de Sainte-Marie de Poitiers monastery, with a 19th century manuscript bookplate. Repeated stamp of the Diocesan Library of Poitiers. Bindings very fresh and in good condition. Some yellowed leaves. Bohatta, Breviere, n°2585 - IFF18, I, Baquoy, nos. 211-216 - OHR, 1319/2.