Traité de la Joie de l’Âme Chrétienne – Père Ambroise de Lombez – Paris 1779

Traité de la Joie de l’Âme Chrétienne is a spiritual classic by Père Ambroise de Lombez (1708–1778), a French Capuchin friar and mystic celebrated for his devotional writings on inner peace and Christian joy. This edition was published in Paris in 1779 — one year after the author’s death — bearing the royal imprimatur Avec Approbation & Privilège du Roi.

Published by P.G. Simon (Imprimeur du Parlement) with Mérigot le jeune and Berton, the volume is set in elegant 18th-century French typography. The text explores the nature of spiritual joy as a virtue of Christian life, drawing on the epistles of Saint Paul and the tradition of French Catholic mysticism. A companion work to Lombez’s celebrated Traité de la Paix Intérieure.

Binding: Original full leather with ornate gilt-tooled spine featuring rosette medallions and a red title label. The binding shows significant wear and surface loss consistent with its age. Interior paper is in good condition for a 246-year-old book — cream-coloured pages, clean type, no major foxing. Marbled endpapers (blue, red and cream swirl pattern) are intact. The front paste-down bears handwritten period annotations and a faded stamp.

A rare 18th-century devotional work from one of France’s most influential spiritual writers, in its original period binding.