‎(ROU, J.)‎
‎Remarques sur l'Histoire du Calvinisme de Mr. Maimbourg.‎

‎A La Haye, Chez Adrian Moetjens, 1682. With sphere on title. [8], 208 pp. 12mo. Contemporary red morocco, gilt triple fillets, spine gilt with raised bands, with gilt edges. Conlon, Prélude, 1101; not in Sauvy; Desgraves, Ouvrages de Controverse entre Catholiques et Protestants en France, 6697; see also Haag, La France Protestante, volume 9, pages 10-20, for an elaborate account of his lifeand works. First edition, rare, of this important critique of Maimbourg's Histoire du Calvinisme, and not to be confused with Pierre Bayle's critique of Maimbourg entitled Critique générale de l'histoire du Calvinisme de Mr. Maimbourg. Jean Rou (1638-1711), avocat in the Parlement of Paris, and a "réformé, turned to history, and composed a synchronized table of the histories of all countries since the beginning of the world. At first his work was well received at Court: Louis XIV patronized it, and the Duke de Montausier used it in the education of the Dauphin. But in November, 1675 the Archbishop of Paris complained that the table included anti-Catholic remarks; the plates were confiscated, and Rou spent some months in the Bastille. Near the end of 1680, he was called to The Hague to be the tutor of the children of Mm. de Sommerdijk, (whose husband, Cornelis van Aerssen van Sommelsdijk, was a future governor of Surinam). Later he became official interpreter in the Estates-General. His critique of Maimbourg, which was the first of the Protestant critiques to appear in print, was dedicated to the Prince of Orange. Bayle admired it, particularly for its excellent style in French, and said that it had been much appreciated in Geneva. Rou had sponsored the publication of Jurieu's Politique du Clergé, and had helped both Jurieu and Bayle to obtain positions in Rotterdam" (Elisabeth Israels Perry, From Theology to History: French Religious Controversy and the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, p. 219.) The book was condamned by the Catholic authorities and burned publicly at the Place de Grève in Paris by order dated March 6, 1683. - A very nice copy. ‎

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