Père Brydayne - Sermons du Père Brydayne - 1827-1837

Jacques Brydaine — Sermons of Father Brydaine, Royal Missionary — 5 volumes from 1827 + 2 supplementary volumes from 1837 — 7 volumes — Uniform bindings

Fine old collection assembling the Sermons of the Father, Royal Missionary, published from his autograph manuscripts.

The collection comprises seven volumes:

– Volumes I to V: second edition, Avignon, at Seguin the elder, bookseller-printer, 1827.

– Volumes VI and VII: supplementary volumes, Leuven, at Vanlinthout and Vandenzande, 1837.

The original publication of Brydaine’s sermons consisted of five volumes. Volumes VI and VII were added later to enrich and complete this vast corpus. The present set thus reunites the five volumes of the 1827 edition and the two Belgian supplements published ten years later.

The seven volumes have been gathered in uniform old bindings, giving them a particularly harmonious and decorative presentation in a library.

Jacques Brydaine, also spelled Bridaine or Brydayne, was born in Chusclan, near Uzès, on 21 March 1701, and died in Roquemaure on 22 December 1767.

After studies at the Jesuit college in Avignon, he joined the Seminary of the Royal Missions of Saint-Charles. Ordained a priest in 1725, he became one of the French popular preachers most celebrated in the eighteenth century.

For more than forty years, he traveled France and is said to have completed about 256 missions. His reputation rested on a powerful, vivid and theatrical eloquence capable of drawing large crowds. His preaching combined sermons, songs, processions and stagecraft designed to strike the minds of listeners.

His renown earned him invitations in the main French cities, notably Montpellier, Lyon, Marseille, Chalon-sur-Saône and Paris. His preaching at Saint-Sulpice church in Paris contributed particularly to his celebrity.

Pope Benedict XIV granted him permission to preach throughout the Christian world. Brydaine was also the author of Spiritual Canticles, a work that went through many editions.

His sermons were not printed in his lifetime in the form of this collection. They were published several decades after his death from his autograph manuscripts, which gives this set real historical interest for the study of religious eloquence and popular preaching in the eighteenth century.

The seven volumes present fine uniform old bindings.

The spine richly decorated with motifs, florets, arabesques and gilt lines. Red morocco title pieces bearing the inscription “Sermons of Father Brydaine,” with gilt tomaios from 1 to 7.

Boards covered in marbled paper, endpapers and edges decorated in the period style. The whole forms a visually homogeneous series despite the two edition dates.

The binding, gilding and marbled papers give this collection a strong decorative character, particularly suited to an old library or a cabinet of curiosities.

Author: Jacques Brydaine, also called Bridaine or Brydayne

Title: Sermons of Father Brydaine, Royal Missionary, published from autograph manuscripts

Number of volumes: 7

Volumes I to V: Avignon, Seguin the elder, 1827, second edition

Volumes VI and VII: Leuven, Vanlinthout and Vandenzande, 1837

Language: French

Format: about 17.5 × 10 cm per volume

Total pagination: about 2,700 pages according to the count provided

Bindings: uniform old bindings, spines ornamented and gilded, red title pieces and gilt tomaios

Subject: religion, sermons, preaching, sacred eloquence, history of Catholicism in the eighteenth century

Set in old condition showing the usual signs of nearly two centuries of existence.

Wear and rubbing visible on bindings, especially at the headbands, joints, corners and on certain parts of the spines. Some superficial losses and gilding alterations are present.

Pages show tanning, stains and variable wear marks depending on the volume. These features are typical for works of this period.

The bindings remain decorative and the seven volumes form a handsome, homogeneous set. The photographs are an integral part of the description and allow precise appraisal of the condition.

This set offers several points of interest:

– complete seven-volume collection by content;
– five volumes of the Avignon edition from 1827;
– presence of the two supplementary volumes published in Leuven in 1837;
– texts established from the author’s autograph manuscripts;
– uniform, richly decorated antique bindings;
– nearly 2,700 pages devoted to French religious eloquence;
– of interest to collectors of old books, religious history and 19th-century literature.

A fine historical and decorative ensemble devoted to one of the most famous French preachers of the eighteenth century.

Careful packing and protection provided, given the age of the seven volumes.