Histoire Ecclesiastique

1691. Fleury, Claude (and Jean Claude Fabre). HISTOIRE ECCLESIASTIQUE, par Mr. Fleury, Pretre, Abbe de Loc-Dieu, sous-precepteur de Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne & de Monseigneur le Duc d'Anjou. Paris: Pierre Emery (etc.), 1691(-1738). Quarto. 36 volumes. First edition. A beautiful set in full mottled calf, gilt, with lettering-pieces and five raised bands to spines. Probably bound at publication of the final volume. Title woodcut, and copper-engraved headpiece with history scene to each volume, mostly by Sebastien LeClerc. Volumes 21-36, by Fabre, are subtitled "Pour servir decontinuation a celle de Monsieur l'Abbe Fleury." Beginning with Volume 20 the imprints vary to include Jean Mariette, Saugrain, Pierre Martin, and Hippolyte-Louis Guerin. A thorough theological, historical, and anecdotal chronicle of the Catholic Church from the time of the Evangelists to 1595. A standard work, first published in 1691 and reprinted many times. Small losses to three spine ends, wear to extremities, and small superficial cracks to hinges of six volumes; occasional light waterstaining, but on the whole a very good copy. The OCLC shows only one other copy of the first edition, at Yale.