Année religieuse des Théophilantropes, ou adorateurs de dieu et amis des hommes... [bound with] Instruction élémentaire sur la morale religieuse... [and] Manuel des Théophilantropes, our adorateurs de dieu et amis des hommes... [and] Calendrier philantropique, année 1787

by Jean-Baptiste Chemin-Dupontès

Troyes: F. Mallet, an VI (1797 or 1798) | Calendrier: Paris, 1786?

168; [1], 4-140; 35, [1]; viij, 40; civ, 120 p. | 12mo | A-G^12; A^12(-A12) B-E^12 F^10; A-C^6; a^4 A-C^6 D^2; *^12 b-d^12 e^4 A-E^12 | 152 x 86 mm

The French Revolution brought with it a degree of religious chaos. At one end was simple suspicion of the long-established state-sanctioned Catholic order. At the other were extreme breaks from this tradition, evident most readily in the state-sponsored Cult of Reason and Robespierre’s Cult of the Supreme Being. The former lasted a whole year, and the latter couldn’t outlive Robespierre, executed in 1794. Yet some of those desires for a new religious order remained. Enter the Théophilantropes. “Trite and naïve though the pronouncements of the Théophilantropes may seem, the cult is extremely significant historically. Here we have an attempt to find common ground between all religions and sects” (McIntosh). This new religion took pains to espouse only those beliefs and values upon which all others agreed, and anticipated similar movements that gained traction in the later 19th century. Jointly headquartered in Paris and Troyes, the sect debuted with the publication of its Manuel in 1796 and held its first service the year after. By the time Napoleon reestablished Catholicism in 1799, however, both government support and popular enthusiasm for the Théophilantropes had waned. ¶ Save for the Calendrier, all of our texts are by Jean-Baptiste Chemin-Dupontès, the cult’s founder and himself a bookseller. The first edition of his Manuel (1796) identified the sect as Théoanthropophiles—more of a mouthful, but only just. This general manual was folded into collections of Théophilantropic texts that went by other names, including the Code religieux et moral (1796?) and Le culte des Théophilanthropes (1797). Within the first two years, it was published in Basel and Auxerre, and even London in an English translation. Ours appears to be the first Troyes edition. Preceding the brief Manuel, our volume contains the two-volume Année religieuse, principally a collection of lectures, but incorporating some hymns; and his Instruction élémentaire sur lar moral religieuse, a young person’s guide to the cult—but only for those at least twelve years of age (p. 3-4: “Any younger and they would not understand it sufficiently”). Both of these were included in the previous year’s Code religieux published at Paris, but these appear to be the first Troyes editions. ¶ The almanac was published by the Paris Maison philantropique, founded in 1780 and by the end of the next century the city’s oldest charitable society. It includes the almanac’s usual monthly calendar, with moon phase ornaments; list of officers; mission statement; outline of conditions required to gain the charity’s assistance, limited to the elderly (80+), the blind, pregnant women, and widows; the society’s official articles; and a lengthy list of members. Our copy with errata on the final page, which Tourneux calls a second printing. ¶ A vital collection of texts on this fleeting French cult, here bound with a scarce charitable almanac. Copies of the Manuel and Calendrier are around, but we find none of these Troyes Année religieuse and Instruction élémentaire in North America.

PROVENANCE: Old ownership inscription on front paste-down of one Dr. Karl [?] in Berne. Modern bookplate of geophysicist Nazario Pavoni (1929-2014) on rear paste-down.

CONDITION: Contemporary quarter leather and paste-paper-covered boards, rehinged with modern leather. ¶ Lacking the title page for v. 1 of Année religieuse and the v. 2 title moved to v. 1 position, its tome seconde statement obliterated (not honestly, we suspect); last six leaves of the Calendrier shaved close at the fore-edge, just grazing the text; Année religieuse title a little soiled. Binding extremities a bit worn, and skinning of the paste paper touched up with modern color.

REFERENCES: Christopher McIntosh, Eliphas Lévi and the French Occult Revival (SUNY Press, 1972), p. 47; Paris charitable et prévoyant (Paris: Plon, 1897), p. 340 (on the Maison philantropique); Maurice Tourneux, Bibliographie de l’histoire de Paris pendant la Révolution française (Paris, 1900), v. 3, p. 338, #15100

Item #379