1700 Rare Latin French Book - Daniel and the Maccabees from the Old Testament

Author: Louis-Isaac Lemaistre de Sacy.
Title: Daniel. Les Machabées. Traduits en François, avec une explication tirée des saints Pères et des auteurs ecclésiastiques.
Publisher: Paris, Guillaume Desprez, 1700. Complete 2 books in one volume.
Language: Text in French and Latin.
Size: 7.5 x 5.5 inches.
Pages: Continuous 607 pages + Table of Contents.
Binding: Attractive and very good contemporary full mottled calf leather binding, spine richly gilt in compartments with red morocco label titled "DANIEL LES MACHABÉE", raised bands (hinges fine, overall slightly worn and scuffed - as shown) under a protective removable mylar cover. A rare find in such a nice condition!
Content: Very good content (bright, tight and clean, rare light foxing - as shown, small ink stamp on the second blank page - as shown).  Internally remarkably clean and crisp with only occasional age-toning.
Illustrations: Includes two large engraved title vignettes featuring the theological emblem of "Spes Nixa Fides", and two detailed biblical headpiece engravings introducing each book, including a striking lion's den scene for Daniel and a dramatic martyrdom for the Maccabees.

Estimate: (USD 300–350).

The book: A rare early 18th-century Parisian edition of the Books of Daniel and the Maccabees translated by the celebrated Port-Royal theologian Louis-Isaac Lemaistre de Sacy. This bilingual presentation — Latin scripture facing French translation — was intended for both liturgical use and private devotional study. The engraved vignettes and detailed woodcut scenes elevate the volume as a work of theological art and scholarship. Printed with royal privilege and ecclesiastical approbation, this edition is a fine example of early 18th-century French religious publishing.

The author: Louis-Isaac Lemaistre de Sacy (1613–1684), a leading figure of the Port-Royal movement, was a deeply influential theologian and translator. His French Bible translation, completed while imprisoned in the Bastille, became the standard among French Catholics for centuries. He sought not only to bring the sacred texts to lay readers in vernacular French but also to provide moral and mystical commentary rooted in Patristic tradition. His works reflect the intellectual rigor and spiritual depth of Jansenist theology.