[MONTBÉLIARD]. Les Actes du colloque de Montbeliardt: qui s'est tenu l'an de Christ 1586... entre tresrenommez personnages le Docteur Jacques André... et le Sieur Theodore de Beze... Montbéliard, Jacques Foillet, 1587. In-8, havana morocco, oval gilt medallion in center, spine decorated with fleurons, interior lace, gilt edges (Allô). First edition of the proceedings of the Montbéliard symposium. This was the first book printed in Montbéliard, and the only one to come out of the town's first typographical workshop, established by the Count of Montbéliard in a paper mill on the banks of the Allan. When Duke Frederick I of Württemberg (1557-1608) took possession of the county of Montbéliard in 1577, his first administrative act was to publish a "Formula of Concord" in his states, setting out the body of Lutheran doctrine. This publication, rejected by all French refugees of Calvinist persuasion, immediately rekindled dissension in the Montbéliard churches. In order to pacify the town, the Count organized a theological colloquium, held in Montbéliard from March 21 to 29, 1586. Theodore de Bèze (1519-1605) was to represent the Calvinist doctrine, while Jakob Andreæ (1528-1590), professor of theology at the University of Tübingen, was to represent the Lutheran theses. When these discussions "failed miserably", Frederick of Württemberg imposed his own confession of faith on the county. Nevertheless, the discussion had a great impact. The proceedings of the colloquium, held in Latin, were translated into French by Pastor Samuel Cucuel. To print them, the Duke of Württemberg sent for Jacques Foillet (1554-1619), a typographer from Tarare in the Lyonnais region, who had converted to Lutheranism and established himself as a master printer in Basel, whose presses he had installed "in the paper mill located on the right bank of the Allan, not far from the faubourg Sainte-Suzanne and opposite the village of Courcelles-lès-Montbéliard" (Jean Muller), a mill that had been erected in 1575 by Eusèbe Episcopius. No further work would come out of this first workshop, however, as "the paper mill and printing works were burnt down on January 18, 1588 by the Guises army, and Foillet settled (after a stay in Besançon) in June, in the city itself, at the Halles building." Permanently established in Montbéliard from 1591 until his death in 1619, Jacques Foillet's printing house acquired real importance; "one could cite," writes Deschamps, "an immense quantity of books of religious polemic, science and belles-lettres that came out of this important dispensary." The work is extremely rare. The Universal Short Title Catalogue lists only 14 copies in public libraries in France (5), Germany (4), Switzerland (3), Poland and Sweden. None have come onto the market in recent decades. A very fine copy, remarkably prepared by Charles Allô. Printing peculiarity: the verso of the title is blank in this copy, whereas in that of the Montbéliard library it is decorated with the woodcut Wurtemberg-Montbéliard coat of arms. Handwritten annotation dated 1605, partially washed out, at bottom of p. 27. Some insignificant rubbing to binding; margins of endpapers browned. Jean Muller, Répertoire... XVIe siècle, III, 47, no. 1 (cites 5 copies only) - Nardin, Jacques Foillet, 1905, no. 1 - Roux, Recherches sur l'imprimerie à Montbéliard, 1905, no. 1 - Deschamps, 873 ("It was following the famous colloquium [...] that printing was introduced in this town").