WITH GILT ARMORIAL COAT OF ARMS OF LOUISE-ÉLISABETH D'ORLÉANS, QUEEN CONSORT OF SPAIN, WIFE OF KING LOUIS I OF SPAIN

(ROYALTY) (D’ORLÉANS, Louise Élisabeth). Office de la Semaine Sainte en Latin & en François à l’usage de Rome & de Paris Avec des Refléxions et Meditations, Prieres et Instructions pour la Confession et communion Dedié a la Reine Pour l’usage de sa Maison. Paris: Veuve Mazières et Garnier, 1728. Octavo, contemporary full brown gilt-tooled morocco, gilt arms of Louise-Élisabeth d’Orléans on covers, elaborately gilt-decorated spine, raised bands, gilt endpapers colored in green, all edges gilt; pp. (vi), i-xxxvi, (2), (1)-714, (2).

1728 bilingual missal for Holy Week and Easter displaying on both elaborately gilt covers the gilt armorial coat of arms of Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans, descendant of the French Bourbon monarchy and Queen Consort of Spain with her early marriage to King Louis I of Spain. A magnificent example of early 18th-century French binding in intricate gilt-tooled morocco.

The Holy Week offices (liturgies) lead worshipers through the events of the final days before Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. This splendid volume gathers the prayers and biblical readings appointed for the entire week, including Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. With three full-page engravings after Scotin; engraved title page, engraved ornamental initials, head- and tailpieces. Text in French and Latin. This rare volume offers an exceptional provenance in its gilt-embossed armorial coat of arms of Louise Élisabeth D'Orléans, Queen Consort of Spain, on each richly gilt-embossed cover (Olivier, fer 4). Born in 1709 at Versailles, she was the daughter of Philippe d'Orléans and Françoise-Marie de Bourbon, the legitimised daughter of Louis XIV of France and his mistress, Madame de Montespan. At age 11, Louise Élisabeth was married to the son and heir of King Philip V of Spain. As Queen Consort of Spain, she was known in Spain as Luisa Isabel de Orléans during the brief reign of her husband, King Louis I. After his sudden death from smallpox and facing an unwelcome Spanish court, Louise Élisabeth returned to Paris, where she lived a secluded life, apart from the court of her cousin Louis XV, until her death in 1742. Slip noting the volume's inclusion in a 1949 exhibition to front pastedown. Small penciled notation on provenance to front fly leaf.

Text and plates fresh with only very lightest scattered foxing. An exceptional about-fine copy.