Charles Cotolendi - La Vie de Madame la duchesse de Montmorency, supérieure de la Visitation de Sainte-Marie de Moulins - 1684

Charles Cotolendi. The Life of Madame the Duchess of Montmorency, Superior of the Visitation of Saint Mary of Moulins. Paris, Claude Barbin, 1684, 8 ff., 382 pp., 6 ff.

An octavo volume (195 × 125 mm), full calf, richly gilt spine with raised bands, red morocco lettering piece, red edges (contemporary binding). Wear and rubbing to the boards, worn tailcap, headcap trimmed down. Interior clean, with no foxing.

First edition; lacking the frontispiece.

A work devoted to Marie-Félicie des Ursins, Duchess of Montmorency (1600–1666), who, after the death of her husband, Henri II de Montmorency, withdrew to the Visitation monastery in Moulins, where she took the name Sister Marie-Henriette.

This biography recounts her life, from her birth and marriage to her withdrawal into religious life and her death. It draws on the accounts of people who knew her, as well as on memories and writings preserved within the Visitation community.