DENYSE, Jean.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

La vérité de la religion chrétienne, démontrée par ordre géométrique. First edition, the de facto dedication copy, interleaved with a seven-page manuscript dedication, presumably in Denyse's hand, to Jean Baptiste Paulin d'Aguesseau (died 1728), Abbé of Saint André des Arts and the younger brother of the Chancellor of France, and in Aguesseau's handsome red morocco binding. Jean Denyse (dates unknown) served for many years as professor of philosophy at the Collège de Montaigu in Paris, where he became a prominent defender of traditional Christianity in the face of the Enlightenment and its prized experimental philosophy. In La vérité de la religion chrétienne, he draws on mathematical methods developed by Descartes and Spinoza to underline the truth of Christian doctrine by geometrical means. In his dedication to Aguesseau, Denyse observes that he had intended to dedicate the work publicly to the Abbé, but that the prelate's sense of discretion led him to do so in this presentation copy only.

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