A TRINITY OF MARYS: NO COPY IN AMERICAN LIBRARIES. 12mo. (4), 143 pp, (1). Bound in contemporary sheep with gilt emblems and title on spine. Binding rather rubbed; otherwise a fresh, unsophisticated copy. Early note on pastedown “Fournet du Johann?? prix 5” and unidentified early ownership stamp on title-page. Very rare sole edition of this vernacular theological treatise arguing that – contrary to the teachings of St. Augustine and St. Gregory – Mary of Bethany was not the same person as Mary Magdalene; nor was either of them identical to the pécheresse or repentant sinner mentioned in Luke 7, 36-50. Mauconduit gives an in-depth historical background to his investigations: the Eastern Church had long maintained that these three Marys were distinct, but that view had been effectively supplanted in the West after firm statements by Augustine, Gregory, which were later promulgated in the 13th-century Legenda Aurea. Doubts were first raised during the Renaissance by Lefèvre d’Étaples in 1517, who audaciously proposed three Marys; he was immediately rebuffed by both John Fisher and Erasmus. Amidst the tumult of the Reformation, Lefèvre d’Étaples was quick to admit his mistakes, acknowledging that the true number might in fact be two Marys, or perhaps even just one. Now, Mauconduit takes up the reins of this important notion – presenting dozens of arguments, counter-arguments against himself, and further responses to these counter-arguments. He often seems to draw on incredibly obscure sources, for example noting that “Gilbert Abbé de Vasten [i.e. Westminster] en Angleterre, contemporain de S. Anselme, & qui écrivoit en 1099, rapporte qu’il a veu un livre combatoit l’opinion que S. Gregoire le grand avoit euë touchant sainte Marie Madeleine… “ (pp 20-21). Barbier is the only authority for the attribution of the work to a certain ‘Sieur Mauconduit’. OCLC shows a handful of copies in French libraries as well as the University of Mannheim, but no copies in US libraries. A second, equally rare edition followed in 1695. * Quérard, Les Supercheries Littéraires Dévoilées I, p. 1063; Barbier, #4257