Via Crucis
[STATIONS OF THE CROSS.]
Exercice du Via Crucis, avec les pratiques de cette dévotion. Caen, Nicolas-Gilles Dedouit, [c. 1825].
8vo, pp. 56; with 14 woodcut plates of the Stations of the Cross, title within frame of type ornaments and with woodcut of the Arma Christi, woodcut of the Agony in the Garden to title verso, woodcut head- and tailpieces; a little creasing to last few leaves; a very good copy in contemporary boards, vellum spine reusing fragment of an eighteenth-century manuscript, green sprinkled paper sides, yellow edges; losses to foot of spine, some wear to corners and board edges and rubbing to covers; ownership inscription to front flyleaf ‘Edrd Caillebotte 1860’, another to last page ‘Mr Pattout'.
Very rare manual for devotees of the Stations of the Cross, printed at Caen in Normandy, illustrated with woodcuts in naive style for each of the Stations.
The introduction points to the advantages to be gained from visiting the Stations, not least the associated indulgences, ‘so extraordinary and so numerous, that they far surpass all those that have ever been accorded to any exercise of piety’ (p. 9, trans.). The woodcut for each Station is accompanied by prayers, meditations, and chants in Latin and French.
The Caennais printer Nicolas-Gilles Dedouit (1769–1850) operated at no. 7 rue Pémagnie, the address given here, between 1825 and 1828.
No copies on OCLC; CCfr records only one copy, at BM Caen.