B.de Merbes - SUMMA CHRISTIANA seu ORTHODOXA Morum Disciplina - 1683

SUMMA CHRISTIANA or Orthodoxa discipline of manners
From Sacred Writings, the monuments of the Holy Fathers, the Oracles of Councils, finally the Decrees of the Pontiffs, faithfully excerpted
Work and study of M. Boni Merbesii Mondiderini, priest of the Ambianese Diocese, preacher & Doctor of Theology.
Paris, at the Antonio Dezallier presses, Jacobian street, under the sign of the Golden Crown, (1683).
With Approbation & Privilege for twenty years.

Two folio volumes (30 × 27 cm).
Pp. (24), 682, (2), 120; (22), 121-518, 508.
Text in two columns, title pages in red and black with a beautiful typographic mark engraved (royal crown supported by two cherubs, motto “Nisi qui legitime certaverit,” signed Landry), dedication to Charles-Maurice Le Tellier (archbishop of Reims), head pieces, drop caps and tail-pieces woodcut.

Contemporary full brown morocco binding, backs with five raised bands richly decorated in gold with floral and geometric motifs, titles and pagination in gold within compartments (“SUMMA CHRISTIANA TOM. I / II”). Flat boards, deckle edges.

Monumental treatise of Catholic moral theology (summa of orthodox discipline of manners), divided into three parts.
• First and Second Part: rules of moral discipline, virtue and vice, precepts, with a wide index of questions.
• Third Part: systematic treatment of the seven Sacraments (Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, Matrimony) through dissertations and questions, grounded on Scripture, Fathers, Councils and papal decrees.

Work by Bon de Merbes (Montdidier 1616-1684), French theologian, doctor and preacher, linked to the rigorist French milieu of the second half of the 17th century. Dedicated to Archbishop Le Tellier, it was considered in the eighteenth century as one of the foundational texts of theological rigorism.

First edition (the only seventeenth-century edition) of a work of broad scope, now rather rare in complete form and in period binding. Present in major European libraries (BnF, BNCF, etc.), but scarcely available on the antiquarian market in good overall condition.

Complete copy, with the beautiful original typographic and copperplate illustrations.

General condition good for its age: bindings with wear and lifting on boards and spines (typical of sixteenth/seventeenth-century leather), interiors overall fresh, with some stains and light browning, sturdy paper.