Guillaume Postel
Turin: J. Gay et Fils, Editeurs, 1869.

16th-century defence of women arguing that they ought to command the world and that Satan, who corrupted humanity through woman, can only finally be overthrown by woman. Postel cites Joan of Arc, whose victories he saw as divine power working through the female sex, and the Venetian visionary ‘Mother Jeanne’, whom he names the ‘New Eve’ and spiritual mother of a restored humanity. First published in Paris in 1553 in two editions and reprinted twice in the 18th century. This 1869 reissue by Jules Gay, publisher of erotica and curiosa, was limited to 100 numbered copies and appeared in his ‘Raretes’ series with a biographical and bibliographical notice by Gustave Brunet. Postel (1510-1581), Orientalist, Christian Kabbalist and religious universalist, was judged insane by the Venetian authorities over his teachings on Mother Jeanne. Provenance: Oval bookplate Bibliotheque du Docteur Laloy; bookplate MER & HWR, The Gift of Margery Wright, October 1933. KEARNEY, Gay 383.