267 - [RELIGION]. RAVIGNAN, Xavier de. The Christian Life of a Lady in the World.

[RELIGION]. RAVIGNAN, Xavier de. The Christian Life of a Lady in the World. A magnificent copy of this spiritual guide for 19th-century women, in a luxurious contemporary binding by Auguste Petit. Paris, Librairie de Mme Ve Poussielgue-Rusand, 1862. In-8, full cherry morocco, spine with filleted and cold-stamped raised bands, floral motif in a gilded medallion within a cold-stamped frame between the bands, author and title in gilt letters, the same motif repeated in the center and at the corners of the covers within a cold-stamped frame, double gilt fillet on the edges, inner frieze, pink moiré silk endpapers and linings, all edges gilt (contemporary binding, signed Petit, r. Larrey). VIII and 328 pp. Minimal scuffing, rare foxing. Second edition of this collection of religious and moral advice for women, aimed at reconciling the Christian faith with the duties of social and family life. It was written by Gustave-Xavier de La Croix de Ravignan (1795–1858), a French Jesuit and renowned preacher of the Lenten sermons at Notre-Dame de Paris, who fought for the freedom of the Church and education in France. A superb copy in a binding signed by Auguste Petit (1807–1877), one of the greatest bookbinders of the 19th century, active during the Restoration and the Second Empire.