Quadragesimale opus declamatum parisiorum urbe ecclesia sancti Johanni in gracia

Fifth edition, the first issued by Jean Petit, of the Lenten sermons preached by Olivier Maillard in the church of Saint-Jean-en-Grève in Paris in 1498, the first edition having appeared at Lyon from Jean de Vingle in December 1498. Gothic type, printed in two columns of 45 lines, completed on 4 May 1508 on the presses of Jean Barbier. Jean Petit’s device on the title-page. Numerous white initials on a criblé ground. Colophon on leaf 174: « et opera Johannis Barbier, impensis vero honesti viri Johannis Petit bibliopole Parisiensis impressorum. Anno M.CCCCC.VIII. Quarto nonas Maii ». 174 numbered leaves and 4 unnumbered leaves of table.

Late 19^th- or early 20^th-century full burgundy morocco. Spine with raised bands, the compartments decorated with five gilt floral tools. Title and date gilt at foot. Blind fillet borders to the covers. All edges gilt. Dampstaining to the upper right-hand corner of folios 65 to 73 and 153 to 175.
A fine copy, rare in this condition.

Olivier Maillard (c. 1430-1502), born in Brittany and died at Toulouse, was one of the leading figures of the Franciscan order in the late 15^th century. A doctor of theology and confessor to Charles VIII, he was elected vicar general of the Observant Franciscans three times, in 1487, 1493 and 1499. His reputation rests above all on his preaching at the church of Saint-Jean en Grève in Paris, of which this Lenten cycle of 1498 is the great monument. The colophon states that the sermons were taken down as they were delivered by a member of the audience and subsequently revised for the press: preached in French before the people of Paris, they have come down to us in the pulpit Latin which Sainte-Beuve associated with the macaronic style. No rank or condition escaped his attacks. He never seemed able to find words harsh enough, or imagery vivid enough, for his sermons.

« Jamais on n'attaqua toutes les classes et toutes les professions sociales avec plus de hardiesse, de virulence et de mauvais goût. Chacun de ses sermons est une satire amère et outrageante, revêtue d'un langage grossier, trivial, et de mots empruntés aux mauvais lieux du plus bas étage » (Nouvelle biographie générale).

His entire career was bound up with the Observant movement’s struggle to restore the order to the rule of its founder: in 1501, at the request of Cardinal d’Amboise, he came with fifty friars to reform the great Cordeliers convent in Paris, whose members were ordered to observe their rule « selon les traditions de leur père S. François », only to be driven out amid jeers. His order nevertheless ranked him alongside Saint Bonaventure and Saint Bernardino of Siena.

Tradition has it that Louis XI, weary of his audacity, threatened to have him sewn into a sack and thrown into the river, to which the Franciscan replied that he would reach Paradise more quickly by water than the king would with his post-horses. Henri Estienne drew on these sermons for his Apologie pour Hérodote, using them to depict the manners of the preceding century, while Rabelais made Maillard the very model of the preacher in the celebrated episode of Panurge’s sheep in the Quart Livre:

« Panurge […] les prêchait éloquemment, comme si fût un petit frère Olivier Maillard ou un second frère Jean Bourgeois, leur remontrant par lieux de rhétorique les misères de ce monde, le bien et l'heur de l'autre vie, affirmant plus heureux être les trépassés que les vivants en cette vallée de misère »

An attractive copy in morocco of the first edition issued by Jean Petit of the most celebrated Parisian Lenten sermon cycle of the 15th century, and a document of the first importance for French society on the eve of the Reformation.