MANUSCRIT. JOURDAN DE LAUNAY The Office of the... Lot 92

[MANUSCRIT]. [JOURDAN DE LAUNAY] The Office of the Trinity In Latin and French, decorated manuscript on paper France, s.l. [Paris?], dated 1770 and signed "Fecit Malartus". [II] + 151 pp. (pp. 150-151 are unencrypted and blank except for the framing), preceded and followed by two pages of paper endpapers, complete manuscript, Roman liturgical script, text and music inscribed in pale red ink frames, music notated square on 4-line staves drawn in pale red ink, running headings and titles in pale red ink, some capitals in pale red ink. Bound in red morocco, 5-ribbed spine with fleurons and heraldic furniture repeated in the centre panels, gilt lettering on the spine "Office de la Trinité", triple gilt fillets framing the boards, Coat of arms of Bernard-René Jourdan de Launay pushed to the center of the boards [OHR, 2317], heraldic furniture (golden club and grasshopper) repeated at the four corners of the boards, gilt fillet on the edges, inner scroll, combed marbled paper endpapers, gilt edges. A fine copy (a few small rubs to the lower cover and minor spotting; corners a little dulled but not serious). Binding dimensions: 200 x 132; leaf dimensions: 194 x 124 mm. Very rare provenance. Rare binding belonging to Bernard-René Jourdan de Launay, the last governor of the Bastille (in office from 1776-1789). In 1789, Bernard-René Jourdan de (1740-1789) was governor of the royal prison of the Bastille, an office he had bought from his predecessor Antoine-Joseph de Jumilhac. He is credited with ordering his soldiers to fire on the crowd on July 14, 1789. After the surrender of the château, Jourdan de Launay was led by the rioters to the Hôtel de Ville. In the Place de Grève, despite the protection of soldiers, Bernard-René Jourdan de Launay was stabbed. His head was cut off and carried on a pike, along with that of Jacques de Flesselles, Provost of Merchants, to the Palais Royal. A very similar binding is listed in the Manuel de l'amateur de reliures armoriées françaises by Olivier, Hermal and de Roton [OHR, 2317]. It is a manuscript calligraphed by Baudouin, calligrapher at the royal chapel in Versailles, entitled L'office de Noël (1768, 209 pp.). Since 2008, this manuscript has been kept at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (M2149.5 .C5 1768 : Gift of Jayne Wrightsman). Jayne Wrightsman was a great lover of 18th-century bindings, and a large number of finely bound 18th-century works were donated to the Pierpont Morgan Library in 2019 (see Exhibition New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, Bound for Versailles: The Jayne Wrightsman Bookbindings Collection). Full details in the downloadable catalog.