Dom Calmet - Lorraine Library Or History Of Illustrious Men. 1751, Half-calf Binding.

DOM CALMET (Augustin) - Lorraine Library or history of the illustrious men, who flourished in Lorraine, in the three bishoprics, in the Archbishopric of Trier, in the Duchy of Luxembourg, &tc. Nancy, Chez A. Leseure, 1751; in-folio, XXVIII-1047 columns + supplement 118 pp. + table and 84 columns + errata, period half-calf binding, spine with 5 raised bands, title label in red morocco, mottled edges. Antoine Calmet, Dom Augustin in religion, was born on February 26, 1672 in Ménil-la-Horgne near Commercy, in Lorraine, in a modest family (his father was a farrier). Passionate about studies at a very young age, he was an 18th century Lorraine exegete and scholar, known under the name of Dom Calmet, Benedictine of the Congregation of Saint-Vanne and Saint-Hydulphe. In 1728, Dom Calmet was called as abbot of Senones, the capital of the principality of Salm. It was in the great Vosges abbey that he worked and lived the last part of his life, maintaining a correspondence with numerous scholars. He died there on October 25, 1757. Dom Calmet left an immense body of work. The best-known work is his History of Lorraine, the second edition of which was written in Senones. It was also in Senones that he wrote a now forgotten work, a Universal History in 17 volumes, on which Voltaire collaborated for a few days in 1753; a Bible in Latin and French, with a literal and critical Commentary on all the books of the Old and New Testament (Paris (1707-1716; 26 vols. in-4). The Commentary, major work of the Abbot of Senones, who constantly returned to make corrections, or check translations, was reproduced separately under the title of Trésor d'Antiquités Sacres et Profanes, from 1722, in 9 volumes. The reprint of this Ecclesiastical & Civil History of Lorraine, Nancy, 1728, in 1745-1757, will put Dom Calmet in the grip of censorship. This book is in fact an exhaustive biography of all the illustrious men of Lorraine, the three bishoprics, the archbishopric of Trier, as well as only from Luxembourg. Good condition.