RENAN, Vie de Jesus (Life of Jesus) 1863 FIrst Edition SIGNED (PMM 352)

"The Historical Christ" (PMM 352). RENAN, Ernest, Vie de Jesus (Life of Jesus), Michel Lévy Frères, Paris, 1863. 1 blank leaf (with tipped-in signed letter from Renan on recto and picture of Jesus on verso) + half-title + TP + 1 leaf = "A L'ame Pure" + [iii] - lix = Introduction + [1] - 459 + [461] - 462 = Table des Matieres + 1 leaf, Octavo, SIGNED First Edition. Renan's theory of history was based on personalities, and in reconstructing it he endeavored always to penetrate and to expound the psychology of the leading characters. Indeed, in 1845 he wrote, but never published, an essay on the psychology of Jesus; and in'Life' he created what remains a figure of his own imagination.

It is a pastoral idyll with the central figure a gentle, albeit oracular visionary, his power to work miracles a part of his unique personality-the son of man, but not the Son of a God (PMM). PRINTING AND THE MIND OF MAN 352 CONDITION: Very good or better in contemporary half-leather with marbled boards. Includes a full page handwritten letter from Ernest Renan, signed, dated 1859, tipped in to recto of front free endpaper. A picture of Jesus preaching is tipped in on verso of front free endpaper.

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