Perrault, Charles (1628-1703) À Paris, chez Antoine Dezallier, ruë Saint-Jacques, à la Couronne d'or. 1696, avec Privilège du Roy First edition Charles Perrault's two volume work contains one hundred eulogies with engraved portraits, fifty per volume, of famous men who had died during the seventeenth century. Hommes illustres is divided into five categories: churchmen, military leaders, statesmen, scholars and men of letters, and artists. The University of Utah copy is particularly rare, one of only a few copies containing portraits of Antoine Arnauld and Blaise Pascal - the portrait of Arnauld mounted at a later date. While the book was still being printed, Jesuits complained about the inclusion of Jansenists. Perrault and his editor, Dezallier, struggled to publish the complete edition of biographical portraits. Threatened to blackmail by the Jesuits and afraid of losing his royal pension, Perrault capitulated. The interference caused no small amount of scandal. Jean Racine purportedly wrote a now-lost poem about the incident
