1821 Rare French Book - The Imitation of Christ - L'Imitation de Jesus Christ Illustrated by Horace Vernet.

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Author: Thomas a Kempis. (R. P. de Gonnelieu, translator).
Title: L'Imitation de Jesus - Christ. Traduction du R. P. de Gonnelieu de la Compagnie de Jesus, avec une pratique et une priere a la fin de chaque chapitre. Nouvelle edition ornee de figures d'apres les dessins de M. Horace Vernet. Dédiee au Roi.
Language: Text in French.
Publisher: Paris, Chez Louis JANET, 1821.
Size: 7 " X 4.5 " .
Pages: viii-580
Binding: Attractive, beautiful, and very good full morocco binding (hinges fine, overall slightly scuffed and worn - as shown)  under a removable protective mylar cover.
Content: Good content (tight, light foxing mainly on preliminary pages, last pages, and illustrations margins - as shown, front endpaper inner hinge worn but still tight).
Illustrations: Complete with the frontispiece and the 4 beautiful full-page plates by Horace Vernet.

The book: Rare early 19th century illustrated French edition of The Imitation of Christ -- a Christian devotional book by Thomas à Kempis, first composed in Latin (as De Imitatione Christi) ca. 1418–1427. It is a handbook for spiritual life arising from the Devotio Moderna movement, of which Kempis was a member. The Imitation is perhaps the most widely read Christian devotional work next to the Bible,[and is regarded as a devotional and religious classic. Its popularity was immediate, and it was printed 745 times before 1650. Apart from the Bible, no book had been translated into more languages than the Imitation of Christ at the time.

The author: Thomas a Kempis (c. 1380 – 25 July 1471; German: Thomas von Kempen; Dutch: Thomas van Kempen) was a German-Dutch canon regular of the late medieval period and the author of The Imitation of Christ, one of the most popular and best known Christian devotional books. His name means "Thomas of Kempen", Kempen being his home town.

The illustrator: Émile Jean-Horace Vernet (30 June 1789 – 17 January 1863), more commonly known as simply Horace Vernet, was a French painter of battles, portraits, and Orientalist subjects.