First edition (cf. Barbier IV, cols. 211-212).
Contemporary full red morocco Jansenist binding, spine with five raised bands framed by black fillets, gilt roll tooling on the caps, blind-stamped fillet border on covers, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt dentelle border on the pastedowns, gilt fillets on the edges somewhat faded, all edges gilt, bookplate mounted on pastedown.
Some minor internal defects (dampstains and a small loss at the foot of a few leaves).
Barbier devotes an extensive entry to the condemnation of this work on the mystical movement of Quietism, for which Fénelon long contended with Bossuet before both he and Madame Guyon were condemned by Pope Innocent XIII.
Provenance: fine copy from the library of François-César Le Tellier, Marquis de Courtanvaux, Count of Tonnerre, Duke of Doudeauville (1718–1781), with his stamp and engraved bookplate.
Initially captain-colonel of the King's Hundred Swiss Guards, he later turned his attention to chemistry, physics, and astronomy. A member of the Académie des sciences, he studied the development of instruments related to longitude. As an astronomer, he maintained a personal observatory at Colombes.
His library was considered one of the most distinguished of the period.