Angélique ARNAULD D'ANDILLY, Mère Angélique de Saint-Jean (1624-1684) abbess of Port-Royal in 1678. Manuscript, [Relation de captivité, late 17th century]; one volume in-4 (26 x 19 cm) of 156 leaves written on both sides, bound in contemporary brown calf, ribbed spine decorated with fleurons (worn hinges). Famous account of the captivity suffered by Mère Angélique and a dozen of her sisters from Port-Royal des Champs, between August 26, 1664 and July 2, 1665, at the Annonciades in rue Couture-Sainte-Catherine, by order of the Archbishop of Paris, who wanted to obtain their submission by having them sign a form acknowledging the papal condemnations of the doctrines of Jansenius. Mother Angelica wrote her Relation in the months following her return to Port-Royal. The text was first published in 1711 by Père Quesnel (probably in the Netherlands), and republished in 1724 with other relations; in 1954, Louis Cognet published an edition with Gallimard. The original manuscript seems to have been lost. The present early copy, in neat, legible handwriting, includes a few leaves in a different, more cursive hand. Incipit: "Ce que l'on demande de moy en m'ordonnant d'ecrire une Relation exacte de ce qui s'est passé dans ma captivité"...