AA.VV. - L’Art de Vérifier les Dates - 1750

THE ART OF tAMING TIME, OR HISTORY PUT IN ORDER BETWEEN CHRONICLE AND MATHEMATICS
Monumental erudite undertaking of eighteenth-century French scholarship, L’Art de vérifier les dates is born with a radical ambition: to bring order, coherence and verifiability to the chaotic sea of historical chronicles. Written by the Benedictine monks of the Congregation of Saint-Maur, the work rests on a rigorous system of chronological tables, perpetual calendars, and comparative repertories that allow checking and comparing dates of historical, civil, and ecclesiastical events from the birth of Christ onward. It is not merely a manual of chronology, but a instrument for controlling historical knowledge, conceived for scholars, archivists, and historians who aspired to a “scientific” understanding of the past.
MARKET VALUE
Complete eighteenth-century two-volume editions of L’Art de vérifier les dates are sought after for their methodological importance and typographic quality. Complete copies, in contemporary bindings and in honest condition, typically fetch between 1,500 and 2,000 euros, with fluctuations tied to the state of bindings, the freshness of paper, and the completeness of the preliminary sections. Very worn but intact copies maintain solid market interest.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Two folio volumes. Contemporary full calf bindings, richly gilt backs with titles on labels. Frontispieces printed in red and black, with typographic ornaments showing wear. Text laid out in multiple columns, with large chronological tables, perpetual calendars, historical lists, and comparative repertories. In old books with a multisentennial history, some imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. Pp. (4); 4nn; 68; 340; (4). (4); 4nn; [374] continuous pagination 714; 2nn; (4).
FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
L’Art de vérifier les dates des faits historiques, des chartes, des chroniques et autres anciens monumens.
Paris, Guillaume Desprez & Pierre-Guillaume Cavelier, 1750.
AA.VV.
CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
This work represents one of the pinnacles of Maurist erudite historiography. In an era when source criticism became central, the Benedictines of Saint-Maur devised a method based on systematic comparison of chronologies, cross-verification of sources, and normalization of dates. L’Art de vérifier les dates was conceived as an operational tool: a time architecture that allowed unveiling errors, inconsistencies, and forgeries, offering a solid foundation for European political, ecclesiastical, and diplomatic history.
BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHORS
The Benedictine Monks of the Congregation of Saint-Maur were among the most important European scholars of the XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries. Specializing in the critical study of historical sources, they produced monumental editions, chronological repertoires, and studies of ecclesiastical history that laid the foundations of modern historical methodology. L’Art de vérifier les dates is one of their most influential and enduring works.
PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
The first edition appeared in Paris in 1750 and saw numerous reprints, enlargements, and continuations throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, evidence of its constant use as a working tool. The eighteenth-century editions, such as the present one, constitute the original core of the work and are today particularly valued for the purity of the editorial and typographic project.
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
ICCU/OPAC SBN: record for L’Art de vérifier les dates, Paris 1750
BnF, Catalogue général, notices relating to the Desprez and Cavelier editions
WorldCat: Art de vérifier les dates, multiple records
Brunet, Manuel du libraire, s.v. Art de vérifier les dates
Chassant, Dictionnaire des ouvrages anonymes et collectifs, references to the Maurists
Grafton, What Was History?, for the context of modern critical chronology