[Anonymous]
La Passion de Nostre Seigneur en Vers Burlesques. Dediée aux Ames Devotes
Publisher: Paris: Chez la veuve Jean Remy, rue Saint-Jacques, à l’image S. Remy, près le Collège du Plessis, 1649.
Illustration: Woodcut title vignette of the Crucifixion
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Later quarter calf with marbled boards and patterned endpapers. Contains a single early printed liturgical leaf (two pages, rubricated in red and black, ca. late 15th–16th century) intentionally inserted, not part of the binding.
Description: A scarce Parisian satire of 1649, La Passion de Nostre Seigneur en Vers Burlesques reimagines the Passion of Christ in comic verse, printed by the widow of Jean Remy on the Rue Saint-Jacques. With its ironic dedication to “ames devotes,” the work retells the Gospel story from Gethsemane through the Crucifixion in playful rhymes and colloquial French. These burlesque devotional works flourished during the Fronde, when satire, politics, and parody poured from Parisian presses, delighting some readers and scandalizing others.
The title bears a woodcut vignette of the Crucifixion, situating the parody within instantly recognizable devotional imagery. Yet the text itself subverts that image, mocking the solemnity of its subject in verse form. Such works remind us of the blurred lines between reverence and ridicule in seventeenth-century print culture, where parody of sacred themes could circulate widely under the cover of devotion.
This copy is especially distinctive for the presence of a single early printed liturgical leaf deliberately inserted into the volume. The leaf, printed on paper in gothic type with rubricated initials and alternating red and black text, likely derives from a late fifteenth- or sixteenth-century missal or breviary. Its contents include portions of the Magnificat (“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my savior…”) and the Benedictus (“The dawn from on high has visited us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death…”), as well as prayers of absolution and formulas of exorcism. These are central canticles of Christian devotion, recited daily in the Divine Office.
The decision to place this leaf inside a satirical Passion transforms the book into a layered cultural artifact. It is no accident of recycling: the liturgical fragment was chosen and preserved intact, deliberately paired with the parody. The effect is striking — sacred chant and comic Passion standing side by side. Whether intended to sanctify the volume, to heighten its irony, or simply to preserve an old fragment, the juxtaposition makes this copy unique, both a work of satire and an object of devotional resonance.
The binding, a later quarter calf with marbled boards, is rubbed at the extremities but firm. The text is complete, toned with some foxing but legible throughout. The title woodcut remains sharp. The inserted leaf shows edge wear and small worming but retains its rubrication clearly. Together, the whole forms a rare and curious survival from the world of seventeenth-century Parisian satire.
Condition: Good. Binding rubbed, boards worn but firm. Textblock toned with foxing, fully legible. Title woodcut sharp. The early liturgical leaf complete, showing losses but intact rubrication and legible canticles.
Annotation: Rare Parisian satire of 1649, a burlesque Passion in verse, here bound with a complete rubricated liturgical leaf containing the Magnificat and Benedictus. A unique composite object in which sacred chant and satirical parody confront one another directly.
Item #150
Price:
$2,500.00
