The Benedictines
New York: Macmillan, 1930. First edition. 12mo. (6 3/4 inches tall), original green cloth, uncut, original dust wrapper. Gentle wear to spine ends, worn jacket shorts the book, mildly ex-library: small shelf numbers to endpapers and spine of wrappers. A very good copy. Item #426
"WE THINK OF THE BENEDICTINES, AND THERE COMES BEFORE US A PICTURE OF CATHOLIC EUROPE, HER LANDS COVERED WITH GREAT ABBEYS"
Uncommon first edition of David Knowles's primer on the traditions and practices of The Order of St. Benedict. Complete with the scarce original dust wrapper.
This early work by Knowles (he is identified on the title page as a "Monk of Downside Abbey") was part of Macmillan's "Many Mansions" series, edited by Algar Thorold. The Benedictines was preceded by volumes on the Dominicans (Fr. John-Baptist Reeves, O.P.) and the Jesuits (Archbishop Alban Goodier, S.J.). Any description of the Benedictine tradition must begin with the Rule of St. Benedict, "a document almost unique in Christian literature, at once impersonal and full of character, which has influenced each succeeding generation of monks in much the same way that the Gospels have influenced religious souls in every age."
The books consists of I. The Rule of St. Benedictine, II. Benedictine Developments, III. Benedictine Organizations, IV. Benedictine Work, V. Some Benedictine Characteristics, VI. The Benedictine Discipline. With a short Introduction by J. Hugh Diman, O.S.B. A splendid introduction to the spiritual and intellectual ideals of a fifteen hundred year tradition.
Price: $40.00