blunt wilfred jasper walter curator (2 résultats)

Good orig. gray boards in torn lavender dj. xiv, 296 p.; front. (4 examples of script and Locatelli arms) and 29 pl., fold. tour map, map of Northern Italy on eps; 22 cm. "The Quinze-Vingts Hospital, founded by St. Louis for three hundred Christians blinded by the Saracens, occupied at that time a large area of ground to the south of the Palais Royal. The church attached to the hospital, though richly endowed with privileges and indulgences, was unbelievably sordid, thought Sebastiano. `God knows how dirty the priestly vestments are. Amices, surplices and purificators are absolutely filthy; the chasubles are almost in tatters; the birettas have lost their shape and are thick with grease. I didn't know about this squalor when I contracted with the hostess of our inn to say twenty Masses there for a gold louis; afterwards I wouldn't have accepted the commission for a pistole a Mass.' There was no server, no light beyond that from a yellow half-farthing candle. `So as not to be caught in complete darkness in the middle Mass, one had to get through it at top speed. This was the regular practice; it brought the Church into disrepute, and gave heretics a chance to jeer. If I weren't restrained by a sense of decency, I would say that inn tables are more nicely kept than the altars in this church.'" (p. 150 f.). Binding is Hardcover.

VG orig. maroon cloth gilt, in lt. edgeworn red on buff dj. xviii, 385 p.; 24 halftone illus., endpapers: the Fitzwilliam Museum; 21.5 cm. 1st US edition. Binding is Hardcover.