A Gift from the Convent’s Founder

❧ Duaci [Douai]: Ex officina Ioannis Bogardi, mdcxvi [1616]. In Latin. 8vo. 4 volumes.

Volume i: [96], 768, [80] pp. 172 × 125 mm (7 × 4.5 in.). Engraved vignette on title page. Ink stamp on front flyleaf and title page: ​“Franziskaner-Kloster Dettelbach.” Ink inscription on title page: ​“Fratribus S. Francisci de observantia conventus Dettelbacensis hunc librum dono dedit Julius Episcop. Et Fundator Monasterij.” Leaf ũ2 from the preliminaries was cut from the text block but remains inserted. Very Good. Bound in alum-tawed pigskin over beveled boards, blind-tooled on both covers. Handwritten spine title and small paper title label at head of spine. A later printed spine label is at the foot of the spine. Only one of two metal clasps remains and is functional. Covers soiled and heavily rubbed at edges, with the boards showing through in a few places. A few small wormholes on the front cover; three small lacunae in the pigskin allow the top board to show through. There is a crack in the pigskin at the joint about 1.5 inches up from the foot of the book-block.

Volume ii: Florum exemplorum, sive Catechismi historialis, Auctore R.P. Antonio Dauroutio, Tomus II. in quo caput III. De Charitate & Decalogo. Caput IV. De Quinque præceptis Ecclesiæ.

❧ Duaci [Douai]: Ex officina Ioannis Bogardi, Anno mdcxvi [1616]. 175 × 120 mm (7 × 4.75 in.). [84], 982, [32] pp. Woodcut vignette on title page. Ink stamp on title page: ​“Franziskaner-Kloster Dettelbach.” Ink inscription on title page: ​“Fratribus S. Francisco de Observanti Conventus Dettelbacensis Provia Argentinensis dedit Julius Episcop. Wurzb. Et Fundator.” Very Good. Bound in alum-tawed pigskin, blind-tooled on both covers. Handwritten paper spine label at head; later printed spine label affixed over an earlier spine label at the foot. Edges stained blue, but mostly faded. With metal clasps, one of which has broken off, but the other is intact and functional.

Volume iii: Florum exemplorum, sive Catechismi historialis, auctore R.P. Antonio Dauroutio e Societate Iesu, Tomus III. in Quo caput V. De Septem Ecclesiæ Cath. Sacramentis. Caput VI. De Iustitia Christiana, ac primum de priore parte, nimirum, de cognoscendis, fugiendisque peccatis.

❧ Duaci [Douai]: Ex officina Ioannis Bogardi, Anno mdcxvi [1616]. [68], 791, [24] pp. 8vo. 175 × 116 mm (7 × 4.5 in.). Woodcut Jesuit Christogram on title page.
With the final blank leaf. Ink stamp on title page: ​“Franziskaner-Kloster Dettelbach.” Early ownership inscription of the Dettelbach monastery on the title page: ​“Fratribus S. Francisco de Observantia Conventus Dettelbacensis hunch librum dondedit Julius Episcop. Et Fundator.” An early reading guide cut from stiff vellum attached at the margin on page 758. Very Good. Alum-tawed pigskin over beveled wooden boards. Bright and clean top board, bottom board with some soiling. Blind-tooled on both covers with decorative rolls. Manuscript spine title label at head (faded, with some loss around the edges). Later printed spine label at foot. Metal clasps, one of which is still intact. Edges stained blue, but since faded.

Volume iv: Florum exemplorum, sive Catechismi historialis, auctore R.P. Antonio Dauroutio e societate Iesu, tomus IV. In quo caput VII. De operibus misericordiæ corporalibus. Caput VIII. De quatuor hominis nouissimis, Morte, Iudicio, Inferno, & Cælesti gloria.

❧ Duaci [Douai]: Ex officina Ioannis Bogardi, Anno mdcxvi [1616]. 175 × 125 mm (7 × 4.75 in.). [52], 678, [18] pp. Woodcut vignette on title page. Ink stamp on title page: ​“Franziskaner-Kloster Dettelbach.” Ink inscription on title page: ​“Fratribus Francisco de Obseruantia Conventus Dettelbacensis hunc librorum dono dedit Julius Ep. et Fundator Monasterij.” Very Good. Bound in alum-tawed pigskin over beveled boards, a little soiled. Blind-tooled on both covers with decorative rolls. Faded manuscript spine title at head. Later printed spine label at foot. Remnants of metal clasps, both of which have been lost.

Antoine d’Averoult was a French Jesuit priest and theologian who authored this ​“bouquet of examples” illustrating various facets of Catholic doctrine with numerous stories drawn from religious and secular history. Fleurs des exemples was first published in France in 1603 by Jean Bogard.

Bogard was a printer active in Leuven, where Averoult was rector of the university. Bogard moved to Douai around the time the university was established there in 1559.

Each book contains two chapters that cover topics such as signs of faith, the Ten Commandments, death, judgment, afterlife, and much else. Each concept is illustrated with a brief story drawn from the lives of saints, kings, or other figures, not all of them Christian, but all said to support Christian doctrines. Averoult’s voluminous work is part of the swell of interest during the Counter-Reformation in religious instructional materials for youths and new converts.

Martin Luther popularized the question-and-answer format of printed texts for religious education. Averoult takes a different approach, offering instead numerous stories illustrating correct belief and proper behavior on topics such as angels, sin, miracles, indulgences, sodomy, heaven, observance of feasts, and much else, all of which are enumerated in the tables of contents and indexes that accompany each volume.

All bound uniformly in blind-tooled alum-tawed pigskin over beveled boards and brass clasps. These copies were all gifts to the Franciscan convent at Dettelbach from its founder Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn, Bishop-Prince of Würzburg.

References:

Meeus, Hubert. “‘What’s Learnt in the Cradles Lasts till the Tomb’: Counter-Reformation Strategies in the Southern Low Countries to Entice the Youth into Religious Reading.” In Discovering the Riches of the Word. Religious Reading in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe. Netherlands: Brill, 2015. Pages 335–362.