Oraison funèbre […] du prince de Condé

Paris, Sébastien Mabre-Cramoisy, 1687.
1 vol. (180 x 250 mm) of [1] and 61 p. Red morocco, spine ribbed and decorated with blind fillets, gilt title, date at bottom, fillets on the edges, inner lace, gilt edges (binding signed by Rivière & Son).

First edition.

We apologize for the imperfect translation generated by Deepl for the purposes of the show.

The finest example of the art of oratory, the funeral orations of the Bishop of Meaux, favorite preacher of the century of Louis XIV, constitute the masterpiece of classicism. Indeed, his literary renown rested almost exclusively until the end of the 18th century on these orations, including the famous one, written for Louis de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, “very beautiful and masterfully written”, judged Madame de Sévigné, who wrote to her cousin Bussy-Rabutin that “Monsieur de Meaux had surpassed himself, and that never had such a beautiful subject been so nobly presented and put into practice” (letter of March 10, 1687).

The text also recalls the vanity of things, with death striking even the most valiant warlord of his time: “at once dramatized and simplified, the battle narrative then becomes for the listener or reader the most accurate expression of praise whose reception is always fragile […]. The account of the Battle of Rocroi presents a ‘coincidence of divine causality and human causality’ characteristic of ‘good deeds’ (Sophie Hache, ‘Le style de l’histoire dans l’Oraison funèbre de Condé de Bossuet’, Dix-septième siècle, vol. 245, no. 4, 2009, pp. 703-716).

A fine copy in English binding, particularly wide-margined (the Rochebilière copy measures 239 mm in height).

From the Joël Dupont library (bookplate).

Le Petit, p. 414: “This is undoubtedly one of Bossuet’s most admirable pieces of oratory”; Tchemerzine, I, 858 – Rochebilière, no. 226.