Armand de Roquelaure. Discours prononcé, le Mardi 1 Octobre mil sept-cent soixante-onze, en l’église des religieuses carmélites de S. Denys, pour la cérémonie de la prise du voile de profession de Madame Louise-Marie de France. [Speech delivered on Tuesday, 1 October 1771, in the church of the Carmelite nuns of St. Denis, for the ceremony of the taking of the veil of profession by Madame Louise-Marie de France.] Paris, Augustin-Martin Lottin aîné, 1771. In-4°. 46, [1] pp. Old red morocco binding, spine with 5 raised bands decorated with triple gilt fillet on the covers with gilt floral spandrels, gilt coat of arms in the centre, gilt roulette on the edges and corners, gilt edges. (Contemporary binding).
Rare first edition of this solemn speech delivered by the Bishop of Senlis to Marie-Joséphine of Savoy, who had just married the Count of Provence, the future Louis XVIII, on 14 May. She presented Madame Louise with the black Carmelite veil on 1 October 1771.
The seventh daughter of Louis XV, Louise-Marie was raised like her sisters at the monastery of Fontevraud. She remained very devout and withdrew from court life, deciding, with the agreement of her father the king, to enter the Carmelite order. She lived at the Carmelite convent in Saint-Denis until her death in 1787.
Bearing the coat of arms of the Count of Artois (1757–1836), the future Charles X and nephew of Louise-Marie, the copy is soiled with notes written during the revolutionary period, showing no regard or respect for the entry into religious life of a daughter of France; this makes it particularly moving. Olivier, 2540, tool n°3 (cited copy,sale of the Count of Béarn, part 3, 1921, no. 110, where it is mistakenly attributed to the Count of Provence).
Manuscript bookplate of ‘Jean-Claude Dubourg, grenadier corporal in the 52nd Regiment, 1796,’ who in 1797 recorded various accounts and bonds under the false title ‘Salut & Fraternité’ [Salute & Fraternity], as well as in the margins of the text and on the back of the last page, a list of clothing expenses. The title page bears the handwritten inscription from the Revolution: ‘Speech delivered on Tuesday, 1 October 1771’ and further on, ‘Citizen’.
From the library of René de Galard-Brassac-Béarn, with his engraved bookplate.
Some skilful restoration work on the binding.
A moving testimony of revolutionary violence against the monarchy and religion.
3 200 €