Claim: The Monasticon Gallicanum which Dom Germain (a monk at the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés) commissioned and by the time of his death in 1694, had been engraved, the work still did not proceed to publication; but a small number of prints were made which circulated loose, and the copper plates were then dispersed without trace.
Evidence: The Monasticon Gallicanum is a collection of 168 engravings of topographical views, with two maps, representing 147 monasteries in France belonging to the reformist Congregation of St. Maur within the Order of St. Benedict, prepared between 1675 and 1694, when Dom Michel Germain, who commissioned them, died, but not published in full until 1870. Dom Michel Germain, a monk at the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés and a friend of Jean Mabillon, undertook the task. From 1675 he wrote individual historical texts about, and commissioned the accompanying plates of, all the Maurist monasteries, but although by the time of his death in 1694 the plates had been engraved and most of the texts written, the work did not proceed to publication. As for the engravings, which Dom Germain commissioned from several different unknown engravers, a small number of prints were made at the time, which circulated loose, and the copper plates were then dispersed without trace.