[300 illustrations] - L'INVOCATION ET L'IMITATION DES SAINTS - 1686-1687

The Invocation and Imitation of the Saints for Every Day of the Year. Paris, at Girard Audran, Ordinary Engraver to the King, 1686-1687.

First illustrated edition.

Text in French. Work attributed to Abbé Giraud (according to Barbier), intended for daily devotion: for each day of the year it proposes a short excerpt from the saint’s life, a prayer, spiritual reflections, and maxims drawn from Holy Scripture, with the explicit invitation to imitate the models of sanctity (“Rendez-vous les imitateurs de ceux qui par leur foi & par leur patience sont devenus les héritiers des promesses de Dieu”).

Two volumes in duodecimo (approximately 105 × 62 mm), contemporary brown calf binding (with typical signs of use for the period: worn spine caps, abrasions, partially cracked hinges, some short or slack leaves, title of the first part mounted before the general title page, overall browning of the paper). Overall pleasant and complete conditions for the months present.
Only the first two volumes (January–June) of the planned four. Pages: [21], 16, [192]; [192] approx. (structure with one card per saint, with preface, approvals and privilege).

Significance and rarity
Original edition of great iconographic and spiritual interest, famous as the “Suite des Saints d’Audran.” It is illustrated by over 300 small and delicate copper engravings by Sébastien Leclerc (1637-1714), one of the most refined French engravers of the 17th century, pupil and collaborator of Charles Le Brun. Each vignette, enclosed in an elegant frame, depicts with finesse and liveliness the main episode of the saint’s life or liturgical feast (martyrs, confessors, virgins, movable feasts such as the Ascension and Pentecost). Leclerc’s engravings are of high quality, with sharp impressions, and constitute the principal merit of the work: a true miniature hagiographic “book of hours,” intended for personal meditation.

The work was published in two forms (2 or 4 volumes) with title pages dated 1686 or 1687, but it is the same printing. Complete copies are rather rare on the market; the first two volumes (January–June) already represent a significant portion of the annual cycle and preserve intact the illustrative and devotional strength of the whole. Subsequent reissues (early 18th century) replaced or reduced Leclerc’s original engravings, making this first printing particularly sought after by collectors of French illustrated books of the Grand Siècle and of hagiographic iconography.

Beautiful example in used condition, of great charm for the quality of the vignette images and for the rarity of the original Audran-Leclerc edition."