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

SUMMA CHRISTIANA or Orthodox Morality Discipline
From Sacred Writings, monuments of the Holy Fathers, Oracles of the Councils, finally the Decrees of the Popes faithfully excerpted
Work & study by M. Boni Merbesii Mondiderini, priest of the Ambianese Diocese, preacher & Doctor of Theology.
In Paris, At the presses of Antonio Dezallier, rue Jacob, under the sign of the Gold Crown, (1683).
With Approbation & Privilege for twenty years.

Two quarto volumes (cm 30 × 27).
Pp. (24), 682, (2), 120; (22), 121-518, 508.
Text in two columns, title pages in red and black with a beautiful typographic printer’s mark (royal crown supported by two cherubs, motto “Nisi qui legitime certaverit,” signed Landry), dedication to Charles-Maurice Le Tellier (archbishop of Reims), initials, drop caps and tailpieces wood-engraved.
Contemporary full brown leather binding, back with five richly gilded nerves decorated with floral and geometric friezes, titles and pagination in gold within compartments (“SUMMA CHRISTIANA TOM. I / II”). Plain boards, cut edges brushed.

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

Work by Bon de Merbes (Montdidier 1616-1684), French theologian, doctor and preacher, tied to the rigorist French milieu of the late seventeenth century. Dedicated to Archbishop Le Tellier, it was regarded in the eighteenth century as one of the foundational texts of theological rigorism.

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

A complete copy, with the beautiful original typographic and copperplate illustrations.

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