Dissertatio de sobria alterus sexus frequentatione per sacros et religiosos homines. In aedificata narratione deliriorum, queis Puella Veneta, Guilielmum Postellum... seculo superiore infatuavit. by RAYNAUD (Théophile)

Lyon, Michaelis Duhan, 1653. 8vo. 12 leaves. 600 pages. (i.e. 584). 14 leaves. Contemporary full vellum, ornate smooth spine, handwritten title on spine with author's name in gilt lettering (probable recase). First Edition. This work on the dangers for priests and religious of associating with women is "one of the most virulent ever written on women" (Bibliographie Clérico-galante). It is based on the story, inserted at the head of the volume, of the relationship between the famous philosopher and mystic Guillaume Postel (1510-1581) and a visionary Venetian woman. In 1547, Postel travelled to Venice and met an enlightened woman whom he made famous under the name of "Mère Jeanne", and for whom he became spiritual director. He called her "the new Eve" and later claimed that, when she died, she had communicated her substance to him and granted him all the rights of the first-born of the generation. The Church and the Inquisition were concerned by his actions and pursued him, before leaving him for a madman. Postel wrote two extremely rare works about this woman ("Les très-merveilleuses victoires des femmes du nouveau monde, 1553" and "Le prime nove del altro mondo, cioé l'admirabile historia intitulata la Vergine venetiana, 1555"). Théophile Raynaud (1583-1663), a French writer of Italian origin, wrote numerous works, some of them very curious. Some foxing, a few rings. A good copy. Bibliographie Clérico-Galante, p. 152. Peignot, 1880.