WORLDWIDE CATHOLICA

A LARGE & Most Ornate “Law School” Invitation —

Calcagnino, Francesco

•  Extremely ornate wide engraved borders surround, indeed overwhelm, the Latin text of this eye-filling wall poster inviting all to a 1754 “law school” thesis defense; above that bordered text within a connected frame is a large and simply splendid emblematic engraving of Mordecai, seated grandly robed on the king’s great horse, being led by a sour-faced Haman through the streets of Shushan (Esther 6:11)—a beautiful and suitable-here image ofthe just man triumphant over oppression—with the caption underneath, “Humilem Mardochaeum super Aman exaltavit Dominus,” “the Lord hath exalted humble Mordecai over Haman.” Surely it is no accident that, with one blink, details of the latter’s garb resolve themselves clearly into a noose held in Mordecai's left hand! The engraving is signed, “Intagliato dal Bolzoni in Ferrara nel 1754.”

The announced propugnator of the theses is a certain Pietro Annovi of Ferrara, his examiners are Francesco Calcagnino, Guido Bentivolo, and Christino Bevilacqua, and he is to defend eight theses in canon and civil law (four in each), e.g., whether clerics can do battle against the enemies of the faith. Spaces have been left at the base of the invitation/broadsheet to fill in the exam’s exact date and hour.

The image in its frame and the text border were engraved on two large copper plates, with space left for the letterpress. The text border is composed of a baroque frame formed of s- and c-curves, scalloping, foliation, and scrollwork, incorporating vases of flowers, a classical bust, and garlands, with angels seated at base. The frame of the grand scene in the top half of the broadsheet is simpler—but only by comparison!

•  Fold marks, pin-holes around edge, traces of soiling, a few instances of shallow tears and chipping on the edges, with one longer tear (3 cm, 1.125"), none touching engraving; small internal tear with loss of parts of a few letters, without loss of legibility.

Apparitions, Town History, Documentation for Art Historians

Campo y Rivas, Manuel Antonio.

•  A history of the founding and development of Cartago, in the mountains of the Popayan Province in New Granada, from founding to the end of the 18th century. The history is told via the parallel history of the apparition, veneration, and interventions of Nuestra Señora de la Pobreza; the story of her first appearance in the city and the miraculous painting of Her are all studied in detail. She iscontrasted and compared with the Virgin of Guadalupe, and aspects of other apparitions in the New World are also brought to bear. The author was a native of Cartago, hence his interest in the topic, despite his career’s carrying him to Central America and Mexico.

Printed in the “remote” town of Guadalajara, where the first printing press was not established until 1793, this would have had a smaller print run than if it had been printed in Mexico City. But, still, the list of subscribers, an uncommon feature in any colonial Spanish American book, shows 146 subscribers pledging to buy 207 copies.

Because of the attention paid to the painting of Nuestra Señora de la Pobreza and to the silver and gold and other ornaments and decorations in her chapel in Cartago, this is an important source for art historians. Itself, it has three fine copper etchings: one of Nuestra Señora de la Pobreza signed “G.A.”; one of the Virgin of Guadalupe signed by Francisco Agüera (one of Mexico’s most accomplished engravers); and a folding plate of Nuestra Señora de Chiquinquirá that is unsigned.

An attractive Guadalajara imprint, in a contemporary binding.  Rare.   OCLC locates only five copies.

•  Medina, Guadalajara, 44; Palau 41362. Contemporary speckled calf, ornate gilt spine, maroon gilt morocco label. Bookseller's description adhered to front pastedown. Blind ownership stamp on title and third leaf. Contemporary ownership signature on front fly leaf. Folding plate torn cleanly and now repaired. Very good.

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Child Welfare . . . Mexico, 1821

•  Unknown to Medina. The bishop of Durango addresses his priests concerning his inability to print his pastoral letters because of the unavailability of printing materials, and then goes on to urge them in their pastoral duties. One interesting section deals with priestly intervention in families with abusive parents. In this particular exemplar, there is an important manuscript addition concerning this matter.

Dated in manuscript in the text as 8 July.

•  Not in Medina, La imprenta en Guadalajara. Folded, trimmed, and sewn.

Rare Lima Ritual — Some Prayers inQuechua

•  Ritual for administration of the sacraments and certain other rites in Spanish and Latin, with some prayers in Quechua appended (pp. 173–77). This work is additionally of interest as it was printed at the Lima teaching press for orphans—Niños Expósitos.

Rare: We were unable to trace any copies of this edition via NUC Pre-1956, OCLC, and RLIN.

•  Medina, Lima, 1838; not in Palau; not in Medina, Bibliographia de las lenguas quechua y aymará; not in Viñaza. Contemporary vellum with inked title on spine, some staining, especially on outer edges of covers. Pages with some staining, mostly light, and a few tears in the margins, without loss or obscuring of impression. Old numerical rubber-stamp on each side of title-leaf and on front pastedown. Inked ownership inscription above vignette on title-page. All edges marbled blue.

“Let usSing unto the LORD . . . ”

Catholic Church.

•  This single parchment leaf is from a large choirbook—an antiphonal. (The term choirbook refers to a particular format of a codex of liturgical music, intended to be placed on a lectern in the midst of the liturgical choir and to be large enough for those standing in the choir to sing from; an Antiphonal, specifically, contains the antiphons and responsories for the celebration of the daily office.) This particular choirbook is written with eight lines of text and music per page. The text is in black ink in a gothic liturgical hand, with two red initials on each page, for a total of four, the verse and response signs being also in red, and the first letter of the second half of the responsory being overlined in red. The music is on a four-line red staff with black neums, as is usual.

The text and music on this leaf are part of the responsory Cantemus domino . . . in the eighth mode (beginning with the words “et ascensorem”), the third responsary at Matins for the Fourth Sunday of Lent, the text for which is excerpted from the canticle of Moses (Exod. 15:1–19).

•  Hesbert, Dom René-Jean. Corpus Antiphonalium Officii, IV, 6270, var. A (“Currus Pharaonis . . .”). Traces of soiling, a little creased, very small tears to one margin from sewing holes, four rectangular spots with remnants of adhesive on verso. Lightly ruled in pencil; gutter edge with a streak of dust-soiling and outer edge with prick marks (for ruling the page) remaining.

The Dominican’s Month of May

•  Dominican calendar leaf: May is fully represented in this leaf from a liturgical calendar, most likely from a breviary. The presence of the Translation of St. Dominic as a totum duplex feast on May 24 would indicate that this is from a Dominican liturgical work. Other feasts mentioned include Saints Philip and James (May 1), the Finding of the Holy Cross (May 3), St. John before the Latin Gate (May 6), and St. Petronilla (May 31).

The text is written in a textura gothic hand, and is ruled with orange crayon, 18 lines to the page. “Mayus” begins with a two-line black decorative initial M; the rest of the word is in black, with the remainder of the line in red. The abbreviation for “Kalendis” is in large (two-line) dark blue letters at the top left hand of the recto. The epact numbers, the Sunday letter “a,” the ides and nones, all double feasts (the so-called red-letter days), the degree of the feast, and the astronomical notes are in red. The remaining Sunday letters, the semidouble and simple feasts (so-called black-letter days), and the days of the month are in black, with the first letter of the abbreviations for ides and nones being additionally lined in red. The initial letters employed have fine decorative ornamentation, and the quality of calligraphy, with its intricate interplay of black and red on this leaf, is most beautifully done.

•  Natural hole in vellum in outer margin (passage for a vein or artery), with contemporary infill. Light soiling, most noticeable in outer margins, traces of adhesive in top margin of verso. There is an erasure after the Translation of St. Nicholas (May 9) where the degree of the feast should be indicated. Yes, the right edge of the page is a little off square.

When Even PRAYERS FOR THE DEAD Were
  CHEERFULLY ILLUMINATED

•  The verso of the page (the side visible through the frame) begins with the fourth lesson in the matins of the dead “Quantas habeo . . .” (Job 13:23 & ff.). Though the style of decoration might point to a scribe in the Low Countries, this text is a French liturgical peculiarity. The recto contains the immediately preceding part of the office, beginning with part of Psalm 26:11 and continuing through verse 14, followed by the antiphon, verse, and Pater noster. The size, style, and content of this leaf indicate that it is from a book of hours, or perhaps a breviary.

The recto has 3 one-line initials and three line fillers, all in gold, pink and blue containing white tracery, outlined in black. On the verso on a gold rectangle outlined in black is a handsome initial Q in blue and pink (white tracery within), containing gothic foliation in blue and pink inside the Q. Each side has an ornate border on the outer side of the text, containing roses above and thistles below, separated by a volute foliated blue and gold. The pages are ruled in brown, 16 lines to the page, and written in an angular textura gothic script.

•  In a plain white mat. Smudge of the ink from the text onto the border in the lower part of text of the verso. Traces of soiling in margins with sparse and fine spotting in the inner.

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A SplendidBISHOP'S ALTAR BOOK

•  Commissioned by the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, Max Gandolf Cardinal Graf von Kuenberg (reigned 1668–87), this stunning edition of the Canon Missae was prepared for the celebration of the pontifical mass and includes all the prayers from the ordinary of the Mass that a bishop would need when celebrating. The title-page is in red and black with an engraved architectural border, the title flanked by a pair of bishops with (below) unknown episcopal arms and (above) a scene showing God the Father and the Holy Spirit as a dove looking down on Mary with Jesus, all flanked by SS. Peter & Paul. The text is in red and black in a very large roman type with woodcut foliate initials (lots of these) and head- and tailpieces. On p. 54 is a full-page engraving of the last supper while p. 55 has an architectural border showing (above) Jesus giving the keys of the kingdom to Peter, and (at base) Jesus on the shore with three disciples coming to meet him in a boat. On p. 104 (facing the Te igitur) is a full-page engraving of Jesus on the cross. The architectural border of the Te igitur is decorated with the instruments of the passion with Veronica’s veil, held by angels, above. Both of the full-page engravings are signed Philipp Kilian (1628–93).

Music is given at the end (pp. 145–220) for the incipits of the Gloria and the Credo, and for the prefaces. It is on a four-line staff with black square notes, as is usual.

Binding: Contemporary cordovan leather ornately gilt: covers with panels formed of broad foliate gilt rolls with small gilt fleurons and flowers in outer compartments, large fleurons in corners of center compartment, and a gilt and deeply impressed mandorla as centerpiece. Spine with raised bands, gilt-rolled above and below, compartments each with a gilt fleuron. Marbled endpapers. All edges gilt. Silk placemarkers. Many leather tabs, all but two affixed to the bottom of leaves.

Provenance: Rubber-stamp of “E.S.” on front pastedown

•  Binding as above, rubbed with scratches, nicks, and spotting. Title-page lightly foxed; light to moderate foxing elsewhere usually marginal. Pieces out of the margins of some pages (especially at the bottom where tabs must have been) repaired with paper. Some tabs broken with loss. Curious to note: On p. 56 the printer forgot to ink in the black letters of the Kyrie eleison, just leaving a red “K”.

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ASpanish Lectionary Leaf

•  This leaf is from a lectionary giving the lessons from matins, and, given its size, is likely from a breviary. It begins with part of the second and the third short lesson for matins on the Tuesday in the octave of the Ascension and continues with the lessons for the Wednesday in the octave (altogether Rev. 1:16–20). Then, for the octave day, follows a sermon of St. Leo for the feast of the Ascension, and part of the Venerable Bede’s homily on the gospel “Behold I send the promised of my father . . .” (Luke 24:49 ff.).

On the recto are seven initials: 1 four-line blue initial “P”, 1 red two-line “E”, and 3 one-line blue initials alternating with 2 one-line red initials; on the verso 1 two-line initial I, 1 two-line initial E, and 4 one-line blue alternating with 3 one-line red initials. The lines are ruled in gray-brown, with the first line of text below the top ruling. The text is written in a round gothic bookhand with many abbreviations, in black ink with the rubrics in bright red. The recto is numbered xlviii, in red, in the upper right-hand corner. In the center of the bottom margin of the verso is the catchword “babti” in black surrounded by tracery. Spanish illuminated leaves from this period are very uncommon.

•  A light stain in the lower outer margin, and bare remnants of adhesive higher up on the recto.

Handsome Decretals

•  This is a collection of the decretals of Boniface VIII, born Benedict Gaetani (ca. 1235–1303, pope from 1294). Boniface was a distinguished canonist and defender of the rights of the papacy. He did much to organize canon law, compiling the decrees of his predecessors into five books, to which he added his own Liber Sextus ("sixth book"). To Boniface's own decretals were later appended the Constitutiones of Boniface's immediate successor, Clement V (reigned 1305–14), the Extravagantes of John XXII (reigned 1316–1334), and finally, in 1500–1503, the Extravagantes Communes. The works in this volume form the third of three volumes—together with the Decretum of Gratianus and the Decretales of Gregory IX—printed by the Socios Aquilae Renovantis in 1604 as part of a complete set of the Corpus Iuris Canonici or code of canon law.

In this edition the legal text is surrounded by commentary, to which supplementary side notes have been added. It is printed with an ornate, very large woodcut printer's device on the title-page, and historiated woodcut initials.

•  On Boniface, see: New Catholic Encyclopedia, II, 671–73. Half vellum over green paper with a brown leatherette title label. Title-page has a tear from the base of the page into the imprint information, repaired on the verso with paper. Inked marginalia in one place, fol. *2r. Occasional spots of foxing and staining, most noticeably on the title-page and first few leaves.

YES:  Your Majesty May Tax the Clergy

Catholic Church.

•  Benedict XIII in this Apostolic letter to Philip V of Spain authorizes the king to include the clergy and religious along with the laity under the new tax for the defense of his realms. Attractively produced by its anonymous printer, it bears a fine woodcut initial on p. 1.

This copy is notarized, i.e., authenticated, sealed, and signed, "In Madrid, a true copy, Manuel St. Martin, Apostolic notary." No copies were found on OCLC or RLIN, or in NUC Pre-1956.

•  Not in Palau. On Benedict XIII, see New Catholic Encyclopedia, II, 276-77. Removed from a nonce volume. Paper generally clean and crisp with but a few spots of soiling; closed tear from bottom margin into the last two lines of text, without loss of letters. Inked paraph on lower inner corners, and inked notation on upper outer corner of first page.

AGracious Papal Concession — Nicely Printed

Catholic Church.

•  In this apostolic letter sent to Ferdinand VI, King of Spain, Benedict XIV notes that the papal nuncio in Madrid has been misinforming the clergy via various communications about the terms of the Concordat of 11 Jan. 1753. The Pope reaffirms each and every agreement in that document, granting greater powers to the Spanish crown in the matter of clerical appointments. Benedict has been much criticized for this concession—though it must be admitted in his favor that a break between Spain and the Holy See would have been disastrous for the Church.

This bilingual edition is printed in two columns, the original Latin text of the Apostolic letter is on the left and a Spanish translation is on the right. This important item in Spanish and Vatican diplomatic history is rare. No copies were found on OCLC or RLIN, or in NUC Pre-1956.

•  Not in Palau. On Benedict XIV, see New Catholic Encyclopedia, II, 278. Removed from a nonce volume. Paper generally clean and crisp with a few spots of soiling.

The Missionary Church Addresses Native America

The Mass & Hymns (with Music) in Montagnais

•  First edition and very rare, especially in commerce. It is attributed to Father Flavien Durocher (1800–76) and is the Latin Mass translated into Montagnais. It includes the music and words for the Introit, Kyrie, Agnus Dei, Credo, and more, g., the Magnificat. It was written for the use of the missions on the Saguenay river and on the north bank of the St. Lawrence near Tadoussac. The woodcut frontispiece is a portrait of St. Francis Xavier and the work ends with a third-page woodcut of Christ on the Cross flanked by the thieves, surrounded by family and disciples.

•  Pilling, Proof-Sheets of a Bibliography of the Languages of the North American Indians, 38; Pilling, Bibliography of the Algonquian Languages, 122; Newberry Library, Indian Linguistics in the Edward E. Ayer Collection, Montagnais 10. Contemporary boards covered with faux leather. A very good copy.

The Second Edition Also, of the Above! Catholic Church.   Hymns. Montagnais. Aiamieu kushkushkutu Mishinaigan. Kaiakonigants nte opistikoiats [Quebec]: Nte etat Aug. Cote et Cie, 1856. 12mo. 104 pp.
$850.00

•  Second edition (first had been 1847) and rather uncommon, especially in commerce. Attributed to Father Flavien Durocher (1800–76), this the Latin Mass translated into Montagnais. It includes the music and words for the Introit, Kyrie, Agnus Dei, Credo, and more, e.g., the Magnificat. It was written for the use of the missions on the Saguenay river and on the north bank of the St. Lawrence near Tadoussac.


•  Pilling, Bibliography of the Algonquian Languages, 122. Not in Pilling, Proof-Sheets of a Bibliography of the Languages of the North American Indians, but see 38 for the first edition; not in Newberry Library, Indian Linguistics in the Edward E. Ayer Collection, but see Montagnais 10 for the first edition. Later 19th-century boards with cloth spine.

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The Psalms of David— According to theCISTERCIAN USE

Catholic Church.

•  Cistercians, like other monks, prayed the entire psalter through in the course of the week. The psalms were sung as part of the daily office, services of prayer sung at various times of day and night. This Psalterium Cisterciense contains the entire psalter with antiphons and the other ordinary parts of the daily office, all with music or pointed for singing, arranged for use throughout the week. At the end is appended a selections of hymns, the office of the dead, and the eight tones as sung for the psalms, the Benedictus, and the Magnificat. An antiphon (Praestet hoc nobis) with music has been added in manuscript on the recto of the rear free endpaper.

The text is printed in black and red with healthy use of woodcut foliated and historiated initials. The music is in black square notes on a red four-line staff, as usual. The title-page has an engraved vignette showing the Blessed Virgin Mary and Jesus with (presumably) St. Robert of Molesme and St. Bernard of Clairvaux on either side. Such psalters are rare, and this edition is noticeably so: No copies were found searching OCLC, RLIN, and NUC Pre-1956.

Provenance: Acquired by the Cistercian monastery of Salem in southern Germany (Baden) following the fire in 1697 that destroyed many of the buildings. Monastery secularized in 1802 and library moved to Peterhausen, thence sold to the University of Heidelberg. A portion, including this volume, acquired by Baron von Lassberg. The Lassberg collection of post-incunabula sold en bloc to an Anglo-American bookselling consortium in 1999.

Cistercian Monastery of Salem: A very important imperial abbey, founded in 1136 by the Bl. Frowin (a companion of St. Bernard of Clairvaux), it was noted in the Middle Ages as being the most beautiful (and richest) monastery in Germany. As the 14th century began it had 285 monks. The Church was not destroyed in the fire of 1697, and the rest of the monastery was beautifully rebuilt around it, but numbers had declined somewhat, and in 1698 the monastery had, not including conversi or dependents, 49 priests and 13 other choir monks. The abbey was to recover, however, and prospered under some strong abbots in the 18th century. In September of 1802, as a consequence of Napoleon's policies, the abbey was secularized and became Schloss Salem, a summer residence for the Margrave of Baden.

Binding: Heavily tooled alum-tawed pigskin over wooden boards with corner and center bosses and leather fastenings with brass clasps, still in working order.

•  Bound as above, vellum worn away along bottom edges and some abrasions/staining to covers; edges red, fading in part. Striped cloth place markers (8) held together by an engraved brass plate at the top. Some worm holes in front and back pages, with some little loss of text; many of these repaired with paper, and the lost text generally supplied in manuscript. Some soiling on the most used pages, and occasional small dark spots. The lessons in the office for the dead have had extra pointings for singing added in pencil. Inscription in ink on front pastedown. Rare, handsome, and impressive.

Complete 16th-Century Benedictine Breviary

Catholic Church.

•  Complete 16th-century breviaries are rare—it is more usual to find only one of a multi-volume set—and one in this condition is noteworthy. This Benedictine breviary of the congregation of Monte Casino is complete in one volume and prettily illustrated with four full-page woodcuts and 59 smaller separate woodcuts (approx. 1.9 × 2.6 cm, 0.75" × 1") illustrating pertinent mysteries or saints: Of these latter, the majority are used only once, but some are repeated, giving a total of 109 impressions. The title-page is printed in red and black, with a small woodcut of St. Benedict above and a red woodcut fleur-de-lis (the Giunta family printer’s mark) below the title; a red fleur-de-lis is also found at the base of the colophon. The text is in red and black, and a goodly number of woodcut initials have been used, some historiated (their number is not counted with the smaller woodcuts above).

This little breviary was obviously used, but with care. A number of additional leaves have been bound in at beginning and end. 14 leaves at the end (13 of the additional leaves and the blank sss8) contain manuscript supplements to the office in red and black ink. Also manuscript revisions to the printed text have been introduced in the margins to update the office: these are likewise in red and black. Also as a matter of punctilious revision, certain words have been crossed out, but in red ink and so as not to render the original text illegible. No copies of this edition were found searching NUC Pre-1956, OCLC, and RLIN.

•  Not in Adams; not in Soltész, Catalogus librorum sedecimo saeculo . . . in Bibliotheca Nationali Hungariae . . . . Early calf with remnants of clasps; covers panelled in blind. Leather rubbed, loss at head of spine and edges of covers. Paper generally clean, a few pages with small brown spots in the top margins. Some pages closely trimmed shaving parts of letters and edge of last full-page woodcut. Inked ownership inscriptions on title-page and recto of front free endpaper. Marginalia as above. All edges green, though much rubbed.

PLUS  from the 18th Century :

A LARGE "Plantin" Breviary — In a FineMexican Binding
That's To-Die-For

Catholic Church.

•  Elaborately bound. This Roman breviary was Part III of a four-part set. It has, as usual, supplements for new or revised offices: St. Julian de Falconeri; St. Aloysius Gonzaga; St. Firminus, bishop and martyr; St. Vincent de Paul; St. Pantaleon, martyr; St. Joachim; St. Theresa. In addition to these supplements for new propers, the volume also contains the proper of Spanish saints, all printed by the "Plantin" press.

This Plantin-successor production is of a large size for a Breviary, and was likely intended for use in a private chapel by an ecclesiastic or layman of means; it is illustrated with four full-page copper engravings and with engraved vignettes on the main title page and on the title-page of the proper of Spanish saints. It was apparently imported to Mexico, where a series of Mexican propers for a smaller breviary were mounted on larger pages at some trouble and expense. These Mexican propers are the offices of the Most Holy Redeemer, the Sacred Blood of Christ, SS. Hippolytus and Cassian (patrons of Mexico City), and Saint Rose of Lima. The whole was then beautifully bound, after the adding of the Mexican propers, as it is gilt and gauffred uniformly.

Binding:  Mexican red goat, ornately gilt: panels formed of broad borders on the covers, corner devices and gilt-tooling between and within the panel borders, with a small papal badge as a center device; the spine similarly ornate, with little space untooled. All edges gilt and elaborately gauffred.

The evidences that this is a Mexican rather than a peninsular Spanish binding are: 1) The presence at the end of the volume, as noted, of Mexican propers. Such propers did not circulate widely in Europe, as they were not needed there. 2) All the propers were bound in contemporaneously with the main and other supplementary texts and the resulting augmented text block was gilt and gauffered as a unit, as noted. 3) The shipping of the Mexican propers to Spain for inclusion there by a Spanish binder would have been possible, but is implausible given the number of fine quality binders operating in the capital of the richest viceroyalty on earth in the 18th century. Not only would it have been unnecessary—but someone commissioning such an exquisite binding as this would want to be able to see the work as it progressed! And 4), clinchingly: The endpapers contain a watermark that is common in Mexican documents of the 1740s and, in fact, is present in one of the Mexican-printed propers.

This is a volume that is interesting and beautiful for multiple reasons.

•  Dominica Tertia Julii. Officium SS. Redemptoris..., Medina, Mexico, 9128. Festa Julii. Festum Sanguinis Christi..., Medina, Mexico, 9130; Festa Avgvsti. Officium Sanctorum Martyrum Hippolyti, et Cassiani, Patronum hujus Civitatis Mexicanæ...., Medina, Mexico, 9131; Die XXX. Avgvsti. In Festo Sanctæ Rosæ a Sancta Maria, Virginis Limanæ, Tertii Ordinis S. Dominici...., Medina, Mexico, 9143. Binding with some small spots of chipping, loss of leather, and holes for clasps now lacking; front hinge open (inside), but sewing holding. Pages cockled with some waterstaining, and some spots of other staining, none obscuring text. Tattering to tops of first leaves; pp. 11–4 in the office of the Most Precious Blood lacking. Inked owner's inscription on verso of title-page of Spanish propers.Stunning when new, and now treasurable.

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M. Fenélon Explains It All to You

•  Rather than a simple exposition of the Church's teachings, this is more an apologetic work outlining the proofs of the existence of God and of the Catholic faith. First printed in New York in 1810, it was also the first work printed by the Economical School, or École Économique, founded for the relief of refugees from the French West Indies.

Fénelon (1651–1715), was a writer, ecclesiastic, and royal tutor noted for his unusually accessible religious elucidations and his political writings, as well as for promoting a more humane approach to education. His theological works are notable for their reasoned approach, respectful fascination with mysticism, and opposition to the rigors of Jansenism. He lost his tutorship of the King's grandson, the Duke of Burgundy, because of his views on quietism and constitutional monarchy, and some of his writings were condemned by Rome for the former (this cataloguer {mdl} thinks quite unjustly). He lived out the rest of his life quietly as Archbishop of Cambrai, and was noted for his charity and administrative skill. Ramsay was a Scot, whom Fénelon converted to Catholicism, and who became Fénelon's literary executor.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 51045; Parsons, Early Catholic Americana, xv–xvi and 393. On Fénelon, see: New Catholic Encyclopedia, V, 882–84. Recent paper shelfback with blue paper sides in the style of the era; spine with a paper title label. Two small holes (touching letters) on the title-page along with a paper repair to the upper inner corner. Page corners bumped, pages browned and lightly foxed throughout, a small tear to the reinforced inside margin of the last leaf, not touching text.

A Boldly & Exquisitely Set Token of theSpread of Printing
RARE & in an Armorial Binding

•  Collection of pastoral services for use by the priest both inside the church and while calling on parishioners, called variously a priest's manual(e) or ritual(e). This one contains offices for enrolling catechumens (those about to be baptized) and catechizing them in the basics of the faith and baptizing them, as well as for visiting the sick, celebrating marriages and the thanksgiving of women after childbirth, and blessing houses.
Because such books were well used, it is surprising to see one in such fine condition as the present copy, and this particular work is extremely rare: A search of union catalogues located only one other copy, at the Biblioteca Comunale Manfrediana, in Faenza—the city where the book was printed.

FIRST EDITION.   Simonetta—the only printer listed by Adams as being in Faenza in the 16th century (1524–27)—was a wandering printer and bookseller from Cremona; this was the second book he printed in Faenza, and apparently only the second book printed there ever. A second was printed in Bologna in 1566.

The text is printed in red and black in modified gothic type of a large size, very readable and handsome. The title is surmounted by a woocut of Christ being crowned by God the Father with the assistance of St. John the Baptist and the Blessed Virgin Mary, surrounded by saints and angels. The title-page has a composite border of eight woodcut blocks, which are, clock-wise from the top (1) flowers inside an hexagonal design; along the right side (2) Christ praying to his Father—possibly the Agony in the Garden, (3) the Annunciation, (4) the Presentation of Christ in the temple, (5) clerics praying to a vision of the Virgin and Child; at the base (6) a dragonlike beast and a bird in a garden, (7) a human figure entwined by the stems of two flowers; and at the left side (8) two wyverns and a bird—possibly a phoenix—among the flowering branches of a tree. See right.

Binding: 19th-century, dark olive green morocco, Jansenist binding, by "M. Lortic" for Victor Masséna, Prince of Essling (1836–1910). Armorial supra-libros gilt on both covers, gilt-rolled edges, and wide gilt inner dentelles; spine with raised bands, gilt-lettered with the title in the second compartment, the place and date of publication in the third, and the cypher of the prince in the remaining four. All edges gilt over marbling.

[Above, the Colophon]

•  Sander 1835. On Simonetta, see: Adams II, p. 769. Binding as above, spine and leather edge faded to the characteristic brown; offsetting from turndowns onto marbled endpapers also as usual. Small red rubber-stamp ("A. Laurin Paris"), inked blue number, and pencilled bibliographic notes on the verso of the front free endpaper. One shallow chip out of the lower outer edge of the last leaf, pages extraordinarily clean.
Stunningly fine.

Changing the Feast of Nicolò Factori
(The Church Chose a Mexican WOMAN Printer for This)

•  Not in Medina, Mexico; not in González de Cossío, Cien; not in González de Cossío, 510. Folded once and never bound. Clean and attractive.

Uncut Bifolium — Changes to a Second Mass

•  Printed here is the text of the changes to be introduced into the mass specified in the title. Offered here is a bifolium containing two copies of the decree, meant to be separated but never cut. Uncut bifolia are extremely rare.

•  Not in Medina, Mexico; not in González de Cossío, Cien; not in González de Cossío, 510. Folded once and never bound. Crisp.

Another Uncut Bifolium — Changing Yet a Third Mass

Our offering is a bifolium containing two copies of the decree, meant to be separated but never cut. Uncut bifolia are extremely rare.

•  Not in Medina, Mexico; not in González de Cossío, Cien; not in González de Cossío, 510. Folded once and never bound. Crisp.

Catholic Church. Liturgy & ritual. Commemorationes, seu suffragia sanctorum Ordinis Minorum S.P.N. Francisci, quæ dicuntur in fine vesperarum & laudum, ab octava Epiphaniæ usque ad Dominicam Passionis exlusivè; & ab octava Pentecostes usque ad Adventum exclusivè in Dominicis.... Mexici: Ex Typographia Matritensi, [ca. 1770]. 12mo. [12] ff.
$150.00

•  Prayers and responses for the masses specified in the title.

•  Medina, Mexico, 8973. Sewn as issued with original plain wrappers and with later marbled wrappers.

Illustrated by Hollar — Printed by the Widow Chrestien

Single-click any image of this book for an enlargement.

•  Recusants had a notably difficult time getting their liturgical works printed in England because of the legal restrictions against Catholics and because of official control of the press, so works like this Office for Holy Week (or, Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae, to give it its Latin name) either had to be printed surreptitiously in England, or, more easily, printed on the Continent. As a happy side effect, printing in France or the Low Countries resulted in much more elegant typography was typical in England. And so it is that this volume is very pleasing to the eye, even though printing just about everywhere in the West was at a nadir in 1670.

The text is in English and Latin in double-column format, with the Latin in the inner columns in italic while the English occupies the outer in roman type. The printer —the widow Chrestien —had a very good eye and used a pleasing array of ornaments and ornamented capitals throughout the volume.



Other personalities who have added to this marvelous volume are Wenceslaus Hollar, the “Bohemian artist in England” as Richard T. Godfrey called him (Wenceslaus Hollar: A Bohemian artist in England, New Haven: Yale University Press. 1994), and Walter Kirkham Blount. Hollar, the greatest etcher working in England in the 17th century, signed five of the seven plates here and may well have been responsible for etching the other two as well. Blount is responsible for the text’s translation from the French and signed the translator's dedication with his initials (W.K.B.).

Provenance: 19th-century ownership inscription on a front fly-leaf of St. Monica’s Library, Spetisbury House.

As one might expect given that this was a book printed for a persecuted minority, it is uncommon: OCLC, RLIN, Wing, and the ESTC combine to locate only 13 copies worldwide (of which 7 are in the U.S.).

•  Wing (rev. ed.) )150; Clancy 738; Cicognara 2071; ESTC R1821. Contemporary sprinkled calf plain style; newly rebacked. Upper half of a front fly-leaf excised. Two leaves with repairs to margins. A very nice copy.

Franciscan Offices

•  Changes in many offices (9 March through 14 October) as said by the Franciscans in Mexico.

•  Not in Medina, Mexico; nor González de Cossío, Cien; nor González de Cossío, 510. Sewn; two wormholes, touching and occasionally costing a letter. Arrested mildew damage, small loss of paper, in upper outside corner.

Catholic Church. Offices. Officium in festo Sancti Patriarchæ Camilli de Lellis confessoris clericorum regularium ministrantium infirmis fundatoris.... Mexici: Ex nova Typographiâ Matritensi Hæredum Lic. D. Josephi à Jauregui, 1786. 4to. [1] f., 29, [1 (blank)] pp.
$200.00

•  Double-column format is the norm in this printing of the office of St. Camillo de Lellis (1550–1614), the founder of the Order of Clerics Regular, Servants of the Sick; but the final two pages are printed margin to margin.

A very handsome and scarce publication: We fail to trace any copies via NUC Pre-1956, OCLC, or RLIN.

•  Medina, Mexico, 7618. Sewn as issued. Very clean and crisp.

Extraordinary Confessors for Nuns

Catholic Church.

•  One of the consequences of the Council of Trent and the advances made in moral theology in the 17th century was a re-emphasis on confession and self-examination as well as higher standards for obtaining a confessor's license—good things in themselves, but changes that resulted in more penitents and fewer confessors. In this constitution, Benedict XIV (who was known as a very pastoral pope) says that he has heard that nuns are not making full confessions because of the intimate nature of some transgressions and the fact that each convent is assigned only one permanent confessor. He now allows extraordinary confessors who will visit once or twice a year.

This is printed in Latin with a Spanish translation in the facing column, sidenotes, and a woodcut initial. A search of NUC Pre-1956, RLIN, and OCLC revealed only two copies of the constitution in addition to the one given in Palau.

•  Palau 27260. On Benedict XIV, see New Catholic Encyclopedia, II, 278. Removed from a nonce volume. Paper generally clean and crisp with a few small spots of foxing and waterstaining. Paper closely trimmed by binder, shaving some sidenotes.

Missionaries forCalifornia & New Mexico

•  Following the expulsion of the Jesuits from the Spanish empire, there arose a power and religious vacuum in the mission areas formerly conceded to Society of Jesus. Through Pope Pius’s Breve (Rome, 17 Nov. 1779), published here, he concedes to the king of Spain the right to establish “custodias” in the frontier provinces of New Spain. The king established four: San Carlos in Sonora, San Gabriel in California, San Antonio in Nueva Viscaya, and Concepción in New Mexico.

The statutes that are published here governed those ecclesiastical establishments and continued to do so until secularization in the 19th century. Among other things, they specify which of the various Franciscan provinces (i.e., religious administrative districts) were to supply missionaries for which of the four “custodias.”

There exist two editions of this important work, differing in number of pages. Both are very uncommon in commerce and number of institutional copies. Wagner describes the edition he owned which, from the same printer in the same year, had two sections (a first of 41 pp., a second of 122. Medina describes a copy such as is offered here.

We locate only three institutional holdings for our edition and two for the other.

•  Wagner, Spanish Southwest, 163; Medina, B.H.A., 4983; Palau 226994. Recased in old vellum over paste boards (probably original). Clean, crisp copy.

Early & RareGerman-American Catholicum

Catholic Church.

•  The first German-American Catholic prayer book, and with the exception of printings of Thomas à Kempis in the Protestant version, the first German-American Catholicum. Very rare: When the project to microfilm all of the titles in the Evans bibliography of U.S. imprints through 1800 was searching for a copy of this book, it found only one—at the Library Company of Philadelphia—and its title-page is mutilated and some letters are missing. Since then apparently only five other institutional copies have been reported.

•  Shipton-Mooney 47375; Bristol B9047; Arndt, German Language Printing in the U.S., 965. Not in Evans; not in Parsons. Full calf, antique German-American style. Title-page with insect damage and some small loss of paper; mounted. Occasional bug-spotting. Uniformly age-toned. A solid copy.

Variety, Depth, & Good Studyable Condition

•  Included in this fine assemblage are books from mission presses and catechisms, hymnals, and liturgical works in Cree, Ojibwa, Slavey-Beaver, Chippewa, Micmac, Mohawk, and Algonquian. Among the other works are Father Lacombe's pictorial catechism for use among the Cree, a facsimile of Father Marquette's Illinois prayer books, works in syllabic characters, and the Cree review periodical Kitchitwa Miteh and the Chinook periodical Kamloops Wawa. There is rich cream here, as well as good milk.

The collection offers a fine basis for study of the presentation in indigenous languages of Catholic beliefs, practices, and theological concepts to Native Americans, and, given the temporal span, one can see how these presentations changed linguistically over time as missionaries became more adept in the various languages. The collection, clearly, is also a good foundation for the building of a larger collection documenting Catholic missionary activity in general in North America—or a deft, corrective addition to an already existing one that has focused more on the area south of that represented here.

A detailed list is available upon request. The price represents a 20% discount off the sum of the items' individual prices.

Although this firm has specialized since its inception in books in New World indigenous languages, this is, in our experience of some 25 years, one of the finest offerings of Catholic-related indigenous language books for Canada and adjacent areas of the U.S. that we have ever seen gathered.

•  All items are in at least good condition, virtually all are in very good condition.

St. Catherine de Ricci

•  Written two years after her death, this account documents the virtues of the Florentine Dominican mystic and saint (canonized 1746), Catherine de Ricci (1522–90). The author, Francesco Cattani da Diacceto (d. 1595), was a fellow Dominican and bishop of Fiesole. This work is printed in a large and handsome roman type, the first page having a woodcut headpiece, a smaller second woodcut ornament, and a striking historiated initial; the title-page vignette is a woodcut portrait of Catherine de Ricci. This is apparently the sole edition.

RARE.  No U.S. copies were traced via OCLC, RLIN, NUC Pre-1956.

•  Index aureliensis 134.430; not in Adams. 19th-century treed paper over light boards, abraded. A little chipping in the margins. Some light to moderate staining, nowhere obscuring text. Some leaves are partially detached in the gutter; C1 and D4 have been there reinforced.

The Machinations ofNAPOLEON Against the Spanish

•  Two significant Mallorcan imprints of the Napoleonic wars by Pedro Cevallos (1764–1840). The Exposicion details the perfidy of Napoleon in Spain, in particular his luring of Ferdinand VII away from Madrid and the placing of Joseph Bonaparte on the throne. This piece proved an effective piece of anti-French propaganda, was widely published, and was translated into Portuguese, English, German, and French. In the Politica peculiar Cevallos reveals Napoleon’s attitude toward the Church, and his desire, if he could not absolutely destroy Catholicism, at least to bring it under thorough state subjection. Both of these editions were issued in Mallorca and they are rare: We were able to trace only one copy of each in the U.S. via NUC Pre-1956, OCLC, and RLIN.

•  Exposicion: Palau 54257. Política peculiar: this edition not in Palau. Contemporary acid-stained calf simply gilt with brown leather label on each spine; scattered wormholes and some loss of leather over corners and at base of spine. Endpapers stencilled red and green. Some interior worming, most noticeable in endpapers and first title-page, resulting in loss of parts of letters without loss of sense. Scattered light foxing and a few leaves shallowly dog-eared. Inked ownership inscription on title-pages. All edges speckled red.

“TheGrounds of the Old Religion”

•  First American edition: The true first was printed in London, 1742, under the pseudonym "Augusta." The author was indeed a convert (from Presbyterianism), and an important one: As vicar apostolic of the London district, he provided a most determined voice for English Catholics during the 18th century. Anti-Catholic laws forced his efforts to remain covert, but he endured to found the "Benevolent Society for the Relief of the Aged and Infirm Poor" and three schools; a preacher and minister especially to the poor, he converted many in the London slums. Throughout his life Challoner "labored to save Catholicism in England from extinction; his writings and preachings served to strengthen the faith of the Catholic minority . . ." (New Catholic Encyclopedia, 438). His readable, revised edition of the Douay–Rheims Bible (1749–52) served as the English Catholic standard until quite recently.

Provenance: Released as a duplicate from the greatest collection of American Catholica in the world, the Georgetown University Library, with a few of the requisite and expected stamps.

•  Parsons 461; Shaw & Shoemaker 31112. On Challoner, see: New Catholic Encyclopedia, III, 437–438. Contemporary treed sheep, spine with gilt-stamped red leather title-label; binding gently worn, covers sprung, spine with small paper shelving label and some cracking of leather. Title-page and one other stamped as described above; pages age-toned. In fact, quite a decent copy.

Make Choice of a ProperTime & Place for Reflection . . .

Make Other Men’sShipwrecks Thy Sea-Marks

Challoner, Richard.

•  Two works, both of which appeared in numerous editions, both here in relatively uncommon printings in a pocket-sized binding. The first work is Bishop Challoner’s paraphrase of Pensez-y bien by Le Clerc: A small book of reflections, it focuses in particular on the Last Judgment and the Passion of Christ. Richard Challoner (1691–1781) was a professor of the English College at Douai and later Catholic Bishop of the London District. In addition to his care for his flock and his efforts on behalf of poor Catholics, he published many works of doctrine and devotion—of which Think Well on’t was the first—and he also, most monumentally, revised the Douai–Rheims translation of the Bible.

The second work, Wisdom in Miniature, is a collection of maxims and prose excerpts. The frontispiece shows seated Wisdom herself—in miniature, as it were, this being a small book! This version appears to be a reissue of the Minerva Press’s 1806 edition, with the last digit of the date visibly altered.

The first line of our caption opens the first work; the second, appears in the second.

•  Quarter calf and marbled paper sides, spine simply gilt-ruled; worn, leather cracking over spine and corner of front free endpaper torn away. First work shaved, affecting page numbers and signature letters and occasionally touching letters; second work with early ownership inscription inked on reverse of frontispiece. Age-toning and some mild spotting throughout, with some corners dog-eared. All that noted, this is a still-pleasing little book, in hand and on shelf.

Huguenot Horrors — Translated, forEnglish Readers, 1686

•  Cry of outrage against France’s cruel treatment of the Huguenots, here translated into English from Claude’s original Plaintes des Protestants cruellement opprimez dans le royaume de France; several English renditions appeared in London and Dublin in 1686, with the present item being one of the more complete versions. In addition to recording the depredations of the dragoons, the work rebuts claims that the Protestants had either ceased to exist as a recognizable body or were willingly converting to Catholicism; protests the breaking of the Edict of Nantes; and notes the hypocrisy of forcibly imposing religious beliefs—a compelled conversion is here equated to, “I believe nothing, and that I’le be a Turk, or a Jew, or whatever the King pleases” (p. 35). The texts of Louis XIV’s edict prohibiting open practice of the reformed religion and of the oaths to be sworn by recanting Protestants are appended.

•  Wing (rev.) C4589. Removed and now contained in a cloth-covered clamshell case with gilt-stamped leather spine label. One leaf with lower outer corner torn away; small loss in lower inner corner throughout. Lacks the title-page. One page with early monogram inked in upper outer corner; last page with neat stamp marking institutional deaccession (ex-Folger Shakespeare Library).

The Saints of SIENNA

•  Saints can be quite a matter of local pride, and the Fasti Senenses, compiled by two Jesuits, Sebastiano Conti (1623–96) and Giambattista Ferrari (1584–1655), is a collection of biographies of the Sienese saints, blesseds, and servants of God, arranged chronologically according to their feast days on the local calendar. Entries range from St. Ansanus, a martyr under Diocletian and patron of Siena, to a South American martyr, Horatio de Vecchi, S.J., and include the most famous of Sienese saints, St. Catherine (not the only woman found herein).

The detailed engraved frontispiece, by "Gio. Batta Sintes" after "Nicolo Gadim," shows St. Catherine leading Pope Gregory XI back into Rome after his decision to leave Avignon. There are also two finely engraved plates by Guillaume Vallet. The first, after Raphael Vanni, shows the B.V.M. looking down with favor on an allegorical figure of Siena. The other, after Carlo Maratta, shows (under the title of this work) a woman watering the tree of the arts from which cherubs gather fruit. This is the first of two editions, a second having appeared in 1669. It is handsomely printed in a large roman type with a few woodcut historiated initials and a tailpiece.

Provenance:  Huge (27.8 x 18.3 cm, 11" x 7.25") armorial bookplate of "William Stirling Maxwell" on the front pastedown; his arms also appearing as a supra-libros stamped in blind on the front cover, and his monogram similarly stamped on the rear cover.

•  DeBacker-Sommervogel, II, 1390–91 & III, 678 (imprint and authorship information found here). Quarter calf, spine gilt-lettered, with vellum covers decorated as above, somewhat sprung. Pencilled notations on recto of front pastedown, and further notation, in ink and denoting authorship, on verso of front free endpaper. Pages lightly cockled; occasional foxing and soiling, the latter in the top margins of pages and plates, not obscuring print.

The Union’s Implications forCatholic Rights

•  Early English issue of this pamphlet, which addresses the major religious and financial arguments against the unification of Ireland and Great Britain, and includes some discussion of anti-Catholic bias. The DNB notes that there were numerous replies to this treatise by Cooke, a significant player in Anglo-Irish affairs for a number of years; the piece “was taken to represent views held in higher quarters . . . It is a temperate examination of the problem, resting the case for the union on grounds conciliatory to all classes of the Irish people. Large concessions to the Roman Catholics are foreshadowed as the natural sequel to a measure which, in other ways, the writer did much to forward.”

•  ESTC T86556. On Cooke, see: The Dictionary of National Biography, XII, 79/80. Recent marbled paper wrappers. Light waterstaining throughout.

Canon Law — Elzevir Edition

•  Compendium of the topics in canon law explained via aphorisms, in one volume—a quick pocket reference guide. The dedicatory epistle lauds Gaspar de Guzmán, Prime Minister of Philip IV of Spain and chief Spanish negotiator of the treaty by which Spain recognized Dutch independence (1648). According to Willems, this second Elzevir edition is a "réimpression page pour page de la première édition parue en 1648." The title-page has a fine, full-page engraving of a religious, presumably the author, presenting a book to the Pope. Other works by Corvinus († ca. 1680) include Iurisprudentiæ Romanæ Summarium, and Ius Feudale.

•  Willems 1125. Contemporary vellum with yapp edges; short title and author inked on top of spine, library number on base, and lettering and number on back cover; signs of onetime leather ties. Covers soiled and with some abrasions; front joint just starting to open at base. Pages generally clean—a very few small spots.

Dedicated“Ad plebem”

Cork

•  First edition of this pamphlet by the Rev. O’Croly, parish priest of Ovens and Aglis. The major question addressed is whether the creation of a national Catholic Church Establishment would reduce instances of financial corruption and greed among Irish priests; the author precedes his argument with a brief but earnest argument for religious tolerance for both Protestants and Catholics (and, with an epigraph from Swift).

•  Goldsmiths'-Kress 28896.2; NSTC 2C43703. Recent marbled paper wrappers. Last two leaves with a few small spots of foxing, pages otherwise clean.

On the Incarnation — A Handsome Book

•  Diego de Cuadros (1677–1746) was a Spanish Jesuit and instructor in the humanities, philosophy, theology, and Scripture. This is his theological treatise on the doctrine of the Incarnation, printed with title-page in black and red, handsome woodcut headpieces, tailpieces, and foliated initials, and a woodcut title-page vignette of the badge of the Jesuit order. A fine engraved plate of the ornate arms of Diego de Toro, Bishop of Concha faces the dedicatory epistle.

Provenance:18th-century ownership inscription of Fr. João Bautista de Castramique on verso of front free endpaper.

•  DeBacker-Sommervogel, VI, 1330; Palau 153911. Limp vellum with remnants of ties. Covers cockled with some staining and a few abrasions. Some pages lightly browned, with occasional tears or shallow chipping in the margins, including a closed tear (no loss) into the top line of the title-page; a few defects in the paper (before printing) resulting in loss of letters but not of sense.

Just a Bit More Catholic Native Americana . . .

First Editions — Bible History & Sacred Biography — In Algonquin

•  The first title in this volume is a history of the Old Testament and the second is a life of Jesus. Both are translated into Nipissing dialect of Algonquin and both are first editions in Algonquin. Father Cuoq (1821–98) was an an extremely accomplished linguist as evidenced by his becoming fluent in both Algonquin and Iroquois; Field (Indian Bibliography, p. 93) writes glowingly of Cuoq's mastery of these languages. His life as a missionary of the Order of Sulpitians, notably among the Nipissing at Lake of Two Mountains, certainly aided in his achievement.

Although there is nothing in the vows that the Sulpitians take requiring self-effacement, it is a characteristic of books published by members of the order that the author's name not appear on the title-page. A minor point, but an interesting factoid.

•  I: Pilling, Proof-sheets, 947; Newberry Library, Indian Linguistics in the Edward E. Ayer Collection, Nipissing-28 [giving author as Jean Claude Mathevet]; Field 389; Sabin 46820. II: Pilling, Proof-sheets, 949; Newberry Library, Indian Linguistics in the Edward E. Ayer Collection, Nipissing-30 [giving author as Jean Claude Mathevet]; Field 390; Sabin 46821. Contemporary half calf over marbled boards, worn at edges and along joints, spine abraded. All edges marbled in blue and orange. First title-page with two old library stamps, pages else very clean.

Another byFr. "Double Leaf/Fixed Star" . . .

•  Contained here are a critical examination of some philological works on New World languages by Schoolcraft and Duponceau, a study of the principles of the grammatical structures of Algonquian and Iroquois, and finally comparative lexicons of the Algonquian and Iroquoian languages based on McKensie, Duponceau, Schoolcraft, Catlin, and others. The initials N.O. adopted by Father Cuoq and appearing upon the title-pages of a number of his works are the first letters of the names given him by the Indians among whom he lived, the first, Nij-kwe-natc-anibic, being a Nipissing name meaning the beautiful double leaf; the second, Orakwanentakon, a Mohawk name meaning a fixed star.

Father Cuoq (1821–98) was an extremely accomplished linguist as evidenced by his becoming fluent in both Algonquin and Iroquois; Field (Indian Bibliography, p. 93) writes glowingly of his mastery of these languages. His life as a missionary of the Order of Sulpitians, notably among the Nipissing at Lake of Two Mountains, certainly aided in his scholarly achievement.

•  Pilling, Algonquian, 100-101; Pilling, Proof-sheets, 952; Field 391; Newberry Library, Indian Linguistics in the Edward E. Ayer Collection, Algonkin-14; Sabin 17980. Not in Banks; not in Evans, Masinanhikan. Original printed green wrappers; now housed in a cloth tray case with a black leather spine label lettered in gold. A very good copy nicely presented.

TO Part IV

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