WORLDWIDE CATHOLICA
A-B
C
D-K
L-M
N-Sau
Sav-Sz
T-Z
An
AZTEC Catholic Catechism — First Edition
(A Monument of Catholic Linguistic Scholarship *&* “Outreach”). Ripalda, Gerónimo. Catecismo mexicano. Mexico: Impr. de la Bibliotheca Mexicana, 1758. 16mo. [16] ff., 170 pp., [1] f.
$3500.00
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The first edition of Father Ignacio de Paredes's translation of Father Ripalda's Spanish-language catechism into Nahuatl. Both men were Jesuits, but in different centuries and on different continents: Ripalda was born in Spain in 1535 and died in 1618, never having left Europe; Paredes was born in Mexico in 1703 and died there the year this book was published, hailed as one of the most important Nahuatl scholars of the period.
Beristain describes Paredes as being “outstanding in the Mexican language.” His volume was intended for use by missionaries, by parish priests, and by Indians: Indeed, there is a prologue intended to persuade Indians in particular to read and learn this catechism.The volume is illustrated on verso of second title-page with woodcut arms and with many woodcut initials and tailpieces throughout.
Provenance: Pencil note on inside front cover, “From Miss Kurtz, January 28, 1918.” Miss Kurtz supplied many early Mexican imprints to the American Antiquarian Society and this may well be an ex-AAS copy, but it has no stamps.
Garcia Icazbalceta, Lenguas, 56; Viñaza 341; H. de León-Portilla, Tepuztlahcuilolli, 2286; Palau 269110; Medina, Mexico, 4500; DeBacker-Sommervogel, VI, 210–11; Sabin 71488; Leclerc 2334; Pilling, Proof-sheets, 2891. Contemporary limp vellum with remnants of ties; sophisticated copy with pp. 25–32 supplied from a smaller, stained, copy. Withal a good, rather decent example of a work decidedly important in several respects. (32719)
This entry is repeated in the
“NSau” section of this
catalogue . . .
A
Florentine Incunable —
Savonarola Put Forth
in the
Vernacular
Italian
(AN
INCUNABLE, VERNACULAR CATHOLICUM).
Savonarola, Girolamo. [drop-title]
Proemio di frate Hieromymo da Ferrara dellordine de p[re]dicatori nella expositio[n]e
del psalmo lxxviiii. Tradocto in lingua fiorentina da uno suo familiare. [colophon:
Firenze: apresso a sancta Maria maggiore {i.e. Lorenzo Morgiani and Johannes Petri},
8 June 1496]. Small 4to (21.5 cm; 8.5"). [8] ff.
$10,000.00
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First
Italian translation of Savonarola's Expositio in Psalmum
LXXIX “Qui regis Israel” (Florence: Francesco Bonaccorsi,
for Piero Pacini, 28 Apr. 1496). The study is of St. Ambrose's rendering of
that psalm into a hymn on the Virgin Birth, and this translation appeared only
six weeks after that Latin-language edition. Written and published during Savonarola's
reign over Florence, it is not one of his writings banned by the Index Librorum
Prohibitorum; it represents Savonarola at a peak of his worldly and rhetorical
powers, and it was several times reprinted.
This book is “around” in libraries; ISTC locates 12 U.S. copies.
But on the market, it is a different story!
Goff S222; H 14436; HC(+ Add) 14439; Audin 126; CIBN S-107; IGI 8739; Sallander 2430; Pr 6361; BMC, VI, 684; GKW M40472; ISTC is00222000. 20th-century grey boards, lightly discolored, with caramel-color leather label on front one. Text very clean. (27042)
This entry is repeated in the
“SavSz” section of this
catalogue . . .
where other SAVONAROLA is
also offered.

Big & Thorough & Handsome for Use
(AN INQUISITION “GUIDEBOOK”). Eymeric, Nicolas. Directorium inquisitorum. Romae: In aedibus Pop. Rom., 1578–79. Folio (32.1 cm, 12.6"). [14] ff., 399, [1] p.; 287, [45] pp.; [4] ff., 164, [12] pp.
$6250.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Compiled as early as 1376 and first printed at Barcelona in 1503, this is the influential
guide for inquisitors composed by Spanish Dominican theologian Nicolas Eymeric (Aymerich, ca. 1320–99), elected the
grand inquisitor of Aragon in 1357. The second Italian printing and third edition overall, it includes
extensive commentary by Francesco Pegna (Peña, ca. 1540–1612), an Aragonese canonist with strong ties to the Roman Curia.
Enumerating hundreds of heresies and prosecution procedures, Eymeric outlines the belief system of the Inquisition and defines categories of offenses including
sorcery and witchcraft, paving the way for later texts like the famous Malleus maleficarum (Hammer of Witches, 1486).
The Latin text is printed in roman and italic, mainly double-column with sidenotes and with various, numerous, at times
very large and always interesting woodcut initials throughout; some sections are framed by a single-rule border. Copious indices accompany each of the three parts; and both the title-page and the final verso feature the printer's large device employing elements of Roman iconography. There is a separate title-page to the third part, Pegna's Literae apostolicae diversorum romanorum pontificum (Rome, 1579), which was also issued independently of Eymeric's text.
As a
handbook of the Inquisition, this remained influential well into the 17th century.
Palau 20871 (Aymerich); Vekene, Bib. bibliographica ... inquisitionis, I, no. 109; id., Bib. der Inquisition, 79; id., “Die gedruckten Ausgaben ... des Nicolaus Eymerich,” in Gutenberg-Jahrbuch 1973, 3; Index Aurel. *167.023; Brunet, II, 1142n; Edit16 CNCE 18448. This ed. not in Adams. On Eymeric, see: New Catholic Encyclopedia online. Recent full dark brown morocco blind-ruled, old style; spine with raised bands, author/title gilt on a red leather compartment label, and date gilt collector-style at base; bottom edge with title elegantly inked on, early. Ex-library: stamps on bottom edge, old pressure-stamp on first, last, and one other leaf, and acquisition number in ink on second leaf. Title-page repaired at inner margin, with short closed internal tear near device and canceled ink inscription at bottom; first and last leaves (only) dust-soiled and waterstaining in some lower margins (only); an early ink marking or two (only); a handful of quires very foxed, others unevenly browned. Occasional instances of very minor wormwork, typically almost unnoticeable and in gutters, with more noticeable but still minor tracks in lower margins of some quires.
A volume satisfying and impressive physically, and textually important. (31327)
This entry is repeated in the
“DK” section of this
catalogue . . .
Decorative
Polish
Catholic Miniature
(A
Sweet Little Devotional). (God
be with you!). Bóg z toba! Ksiazka do
nabozenstwa dla katolików obojga plci. Warszawa i Wimperk: J. Steinbrenera,
1911. 16mo (9.8 cm, 3.75"). 256 pp. (19–30 lacking); illus.
$100.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Miniature (or near-miniature) Polish Catholic devotional book. All text here is in Polish except for one line of the title-page: “Printed in Czechoslovakia.” Steinbrener was the proprietor of a prominent printing concern in Vimperk, which published prayer books in more than 20 languages; the present example was first printed in 1895. The work is illustrated with portraits of Jesus and Mary, six images of priests conducting Mass, and smaller vignettes of the stations of the Cross.
Uncommon: WorldCat locates only one U.S. institutional holding of this 1911 (as per the imprimatur) edition.
Binding: Cream-colored plasticized boards (with cream cloth intentionally visible at joints), front cover with color-printed overlay of an angel delicately tinted in light blue and pink with gilt backdrop beneath a rose and grapevine motif, turn-ins with gilt roll, moiré silk endpapers. All edges gilt.
Binding as above, corners slightly rubbed, minor discoloration
to sides and spine head. Lacking pp. 19–30 (though with its not being
entirely clear whether these were ever present). Pages age-toned; lower outer
corners of first few leaves bumped. A beautiful little prayerbook. (30391)
For FINE, ATTRACTIVE, & INTERESTING
BINDINGS, click here .
For
CATHOLICA, click here.
This entry is repeated in the
“DJ” section of this
catalogue . . .


Poema
americana Born
of a Jesuit &
Made Accessible
by a Franciscan
Abad,
Diego Jose. Musa americana. Poema que
en verso heroico latino escribió un erudito americano, sobre los soberanos
atributos de Dios.... Mexico: Por D. Felipe de Zúñiga y Ontiveros,
1783. 12mo (14 cm; 5.5"). [3] ff., 151 [i.e., 149] pp.
$1775.00
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First Spanish-language translation of Abad's De Deo deoque homine heroica: Both the original work and this translation are the work of Mexican-born clerics. Abad (1727–79) was born in Michoacan, entered the Society of Jesus, and was exiled to Italy with his brothers when the Society was ejected from the Spanish empire in 1767. He authored several works in Spanish and others in Latin. This is considered his most important publication: a didactic poem
begun in Querétaro and completed in Italy. The first edition contained only 29 cantos and was issued at Cadiz in 1769, with subsequent editions at Venice (1773) and Ferrara (1775). He continued working on the poem and the 43-canto definitive edition appeared posthumously (Cesana, 1780).
Diego Bringas de Manzaneda y Encinas was a Franciscan and his epitome of Abad's work is written in “octava rima”: as such it holds an important place in Mexican colonial-era poetry, especially in the subgenre of Christian poetry.
The work's chief themes are the Immaculate Conception and the attributes of God, but it also delves into the relation of science and our understanding of the cosmos: Newton and Huygens are specifically mentioned in the section on knowledge.
Palau 258 & 35854; DeBacker-Sommervogel, I, 3; Medina, Mexico, 7400. Contemporary vellum over light boards. All edges green.
A very nice copy of a significant work of early Mexican poetry, religion, and, at points, science. (29433)

ODE for the End of a
Twelve-Day Celebration
Abadiano, Luis, attrib. author. Broadside, begins: Al contemplar que desaparece de la Metropolitana de México la grandiosa y nunca bien ponderada perspectiva, de que por doce dias [desde el 25 de agosto al 7 de Septiembre] hemos gozado, á merced de las actuales dificiles circunstancias, se despide del señor de Santa Teresa y de Maria Santisima de Los Dolores que se venera en la Santa Casa Profesa, uno de los espectadores. Mexico: Imprenta del Ciudadano Alejandro Valdes, [1833?]. Folio (32 x 22 cm; 12.5" x 8.5"). [1] p.
$350.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
A poem entitled “Odita” and beginning “Salve cándido Lirio, Purisima Azucena, Fragrantisima Rosa, Cipres y Palma bella.” The poem is in twelve 4-line stanzas, printed within a double frame of printer's ornaments in double columns separated by a column composed of a third ornament. Signed at the end “L.A.”
We locate only the copy at Brown University.
As issued. Two circular wormholes, one at the left edge of the sheet and one just touching print within the outer border; pleasantly if not quite perfectly clean, and very handsome. (30389)

Histoire des Malheurs
Abelard, Peter, & Heloise. Lettres completes d'Abelard et d'Heloise. Traduction nouvelle precedee d'une preface par M. Greard. Paris: Garnier Freres, [ca. 1890?]. [4], XIX, [1], 408 pp.
[SOLD]
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French translation of the famous letters.
Binding: Publisher's red cloth imitating pebbled morocco, covers blind-stamped, spine gilt-stamped; all edges gilt.
Cloth rubbed over corners and spine extremities, with spine slightly darkened. Front pastedown with old (Catholic) institutional bookplate. Pages age-toned. (14203)
For
BOOKS IN FRENCH,
click here.

Adrichem, Christiaan van. Chronicon de Christiano Adricomio Delfo; traducido de latin en español por Don Lorenco Martinez de Marcilla. Madrid: En La Imprenta Imperial, 1679. Small 4to. π4 A–Z4 Aa–Pp4 Qq2; [4] ff., 284 (i.e., 286) pp., [11] ff.
$700.00
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Later edition of this
translation into Spanish of Adrichem’s history of Biblical events to the year 109 a.d. An additional “Chronicon Breve” at the end of the volume gives a chronology from Adam and Eve to the year 1585.
The title is within a typographic border; text is printed in double-column format, in roman type.
Palau 2864. 19th-century half sheep with marbled paper sides; binding shows wear. Lower margin of title-leaf and leaves of the preliminaries with minor worming; repaired with pasted-over paper. Some side- and shouldernotes shaved with loss. Sporadic soiling, not severe. (16919)

EVERYONE You Need to Know in France — Bright, Fresh, IN THE BOX!
Almanach de la cour, de la ville et des départemens pour l'année 1829. Paris: Louis Janet, [1828]. 12mo (11.2 cm, 4.4"). [34], 254, [2] pp.; 4 plts.
$350.00
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1829's issue of this useful and decorative annual, “orné de jolies gravures.” The preliminary calendar is followed by genealogical information for European nobility, the
list of French bishops and archbishops, the royal household roster (both domestic and military), names and positions of civil servants by department, members of chivalrous orders, major military officers, etc. The
four steel-engraved plates offer views of the Chateau de Neuilly, Chateau d'Avaray, Chateau de Lucienne, and Chateau de Rosny (with brief descriptions of these noble residences).
Binding: Publisher's apple green paper–covered boards in original matching slipcase with gilt-stamped spine title. All edges gilt.
Binding as above: lower front and back edges each with tiny bump, extremities showing very slight rubbing, slipcase with edges rubbed and a few small spots of discoloration. Front free endpaper with pencilled annotations in French. Pages and plates clean. Really in quite remarkable condition. (30574)

English Puritan vs. Italian Jesuit
Ames, William. Bellarminus enervatus, siue Disputationes anti-Bellarminianae, in illustri Frisiorum Academia ... In quatuor tomos divisus. Londini [i.e. Amsterdam?]: [W.J. Blaeu? for London] Apud Ioannem Humpfridum [& H. Robinson], 1633 [i.e.,1632]. 12mo (12.5 cm, 4.9"). Four parts in one. [4] ff., 208 pp.; 218; [2], 401, [11] pp.
$525.00
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Collection of arguments against Jesuit cardinal Robert Bellarmine (Bellarmino, 1542–1621) by the English theologian William Ames (Amesio, 1576–1633), by its title-page the second edition printed in England.
However ESTC suggests this is a false imprint , printed in Amsterdam for the London firms.
A disciple of William Perkins (1558–1602), Ames ran into trouble preaching extreme Puritanism at Cambridge. When his nonconformity prevented his obtaining a preaching license in England, Ames moved to the Netherlands, where he was chaplain to the commander of English forces 1611–19 and wrote many treatises in support of strict Calvinism. Although he hoped to obtain a professorship at Leiden after the Synod of Dort, Ames was prevented by King James himself, who opposed the appointment to such a prestigious post. Ames moved again, to Franeker, where he had been invited by the curators to teach. It was there he composed the present text, a theological treatise against Bellarmine from the Calvinist point of view (first published at Amsterdam in 1625–26). Ames was
invited to America by John Winthrop in 1628 but accepted a post at Rotterdam instead. His family traveled to New England in 1637, a few years after his death.
Four parts compose this single volume, which is paginated continuously in the third and fourth part; a separate title-page introduces each section, with the imprint date 1632 on parts II–IV. The text is printed in Latin — Bellarmine's points in italic and Ames's counter-points in roman, supported by citations in italic — with decorative ornaments on the section titles and at the end of the first part. ESTC notes the ornament on general title-page exists in two forms: a bunch of fruit, or the Jesuit mark of a burning heart with “IHS”; ours is the latter.
ESTC S116616; STC 551. On Ames, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online. Contemporary vellum with yapp edges, title and date inked early to spine; lightly soiled, ore to spine, dark top edge, . Library bookplate on front pastedown, pressure-stamp on title-page and last printed leaf, old inked control number. A few spots, a few small tears, one lower corner torn away without loss; the springy binding and good overall condition suggest this book was little-used, which is confirmed by a number of uncut pages. (30206)
For
FALSE IMPRINTS &
BIBLIO-FRAUD, click
here.

A Portuguese
Anti-Church Law Explained
Anonymous. Carta em que um amigo sendo consultado por outro sobre a inteligencia da lei do primeiro de Agosto de 1774. Lisboa: Na Regia Officina Typografica, 1774. Folio (31 cm; 12.25"). 16 pp.
$375.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
In the form of a letter from one friend to another, this publication seeks to explain “the end and the logic” of the law of 1 August 1774 prohibiting citizens who have attained the age of 60 from selling or mortgaging their real property to/with the Catholic Church.
No copy located via NUC Pre-1956 or WorldCat. PROBASE locates only one copy in the more than 170 Portuguese libraries that participate; no copy found in the OPAC of the Portuguese National Library.
Removed from a nonce volume. Slim short wormtrack in lower margin of last leaves; light soiling to edges. A nice copy indeed of a rarity. (28603)

Habits of Nuns
Anonymous. No title: [Female religious costumes]. [Italy: No publisher/printer, ca. 1850]. 16mo (8.6 x 113 cm; 3.4 x 44.5"). 18 hand-colored plates on [18] pp.
[SOLD]
Click the images for enlargements.
This engaging, winning souvenir illustrates the
dress of nuns from various orders, including Dominican, Cistercian, Benedictine, Carmelite, Capuchin, Ursuline; nationalities, including Italian and Philippine; and congregations, including the Sacred Heart, the Seven Sorrows, and the church of Santa Chiara detta Urbanista (Poor Clares), in
18 hand-colored plates, all with captions in Italian. The contents unfold accordion-style in one long strip comprised of three pieces neatly joined together in a
leporello binding; fully opened, the images extend
over three and a half feet.
The postures and expressions of the women, as well as their dresses, are charming.
Binding as above in original cream paper boards embossed in an all-over leafy pattern; apparently issued without a title-leaf. Light soiling on boards, spine lightly worn. (31393)

Practical Christian Ethics — Incunable Edition — Two Large Painted Initials
Antoninus Florentinus. Summa theologica. [Basel: Michael Wenssler], 4 January 1485. Folio (35 cm, 13.8"). Part two only of five. [321] ff. (of 322, lacking title-page).
$4975.00
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“The Summa Theologica (1477), more properly called the Summa Moralis, is the work upon which [St. Antoninus's] theological fame chiefly rests . . . [it] is probably the first — certainly the most comprehensive — treatment from a practical point of view of Christian ethics, asceticism, and sociology in the Middle Ages” (NCE, I, 647).
After his ordination in 1413 (at Cortona, where he was sent for the Dominican novitiate along with artists Fra Angelico and Fra Bartolommeo!), Antoninus (1389–1459) swiftly attained prominence in the Church; returning to his native Florence, he consecrated the Convent of San Marco in 1443 and was appointed Archbishop of that city just a few years later. A great yet humble reformer whose writings were widely published even in the incunable period, Antoninus was
hailed as a Doctor of the Church in the bull for his canonization.
The Summa, completed shortly before his death, is divided into four parts: the first is concerned with the soul and its faculties, passions, sin, and law; the second (this volume)
addresses different types of sin and redress; the third considers various states and professions in life, with treatises on ecclesiastical offices and censures; and the fourth contemplates the cardinal virtues, religious morals, and gifts of the Holy Spirit. Although the text draws heavily on earlier theological works by St. Thomas Aquinas, among others, it is regarded as
“a new and very considerable development in moral theology” (NCE online), and contains
a wealth of matter for the student of 15th-century history.
Various Italian and German printers published individual parts of the Summa separately; however it was printed in complete folio sets at least 20 times. This is the
second part only, the first to be published, of a five-volume set from Michael Wenssler (including the Molitoris tabula, i.e., part five) dated 23 March; 4 January (this); 21 May; 19 February; and 12 April of 1485, respectively. The Latin text, rubricated throughout, is printed double-column in handsome gothic type with 56 lines to a full page and nice wide margins. There are
two very large painted initials in red and blue with long flourishes into margin at the beginning of the introduction and the first chapter, and five-line painted red initials introducing some other chapters, a few with flourishes.Scarce: WorldCat, NUC Pre-1956 and Goff locate
just three copies of this part, this edition, in the U.S. (two of those being part of full five-part sets). Wenssler was a prolific printer, but his works are not necessarily common. Elizabeth Evenden & Thomas S. Freeman, in Religion and the Book in Early Modern England, note that “Like many technologies in their early stages, printing provided entrepreneurs with the opportunity to make considerable fortunes, but at considerable risk. . . . The business fortunes of Michael Wenssler, a printer in fifteenth-century Basle, are
instructive” (p. 6).
Goff A-874; HC 1245*; BMC, III, 728; GW 2188; ISTC ia00874000. On Antoninus, see: NCE, I, 646–47, and online. Recent full calf ruled in blind and tooled old style using one roll in the same design on each cover; new endpapers. Second part only of five; title-page lacking but title words excerpted and seamlessly integrated into front fly-leaf. Waterstaining throughout, with all edges and many whole leaves age-toned; leaves at the beginning repaired across the inner column of text affecting legibility of print, in some cases with whole words or parts of lines taken; some other leaves repaired similarly and yet others unrepaired leaving holes or tears very occasionally affecting text; paper now stable and nowhere weakened. Otherwise, one pin-type wormhole to outer margin of early leaves, three corners torn away, a short closed marginal tear in three leaves; a few signatures corrected in early ink manuscript. An incunable that has seen multiple instances both of suffering and of “rescue,” across its many generations. (31142)

A Spy Accuses an Archbishop of Heresy
Antraigues, Emmanuel Henri Louis Alexandre de Launai, comte d'. Henri-Alexandre Audainel, (comte d'Antraigues) a Etienne-Charles de Lomenie, archevêque de Sens. Orléans: 1791. 8vo (21.2 cm, 8.4"). 34, [2 (blank)] pp.
$125.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
First edition, uncut copy: A counter-revolutionary pamphleteer and secret agent
offers sharply worded thoughts on France's relationship to the Roman Catholic Church,
addressed to Etienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne, Archbishop of Sens and minister of finance
to Louis XVI — with the Count attacking Brienne as impious and incompetent. A preliminary
notice to the reader notes that the work would have appeared much earlier if two shipments made
in Paris had not been
“unconstitutionally seized” by Jacobite agents.Uncommon: WorldCat and NUC Pre-1956 locate only six U.S. institutional holdings.
Martin & Walter 396. Never bound, sewn as issued, with
edges untrimmed. Title-page with affixed paper shelving label in lower inner corner and
pencilled monogram in upper outer portion. One leaf with closed split running through several
lines, without loss of text. (30813)

Litterati of Antwerp Salute One of Their Own — Portrait after Peter Paul Rubens
Woodcut *&* Engraved Versions of the Plantin Device
Asterius, Episcopus Amasenus. S. Asteri Episcopi amaseae homiliae Graecè & Latinè nunc primùm editae Philippo Rubenio interprete. Antverpiae: Ex Officina Plantiniana, apud viduam & filios Ioannis Moreti, 1615. 4to (24.13 cm, 9.5"). [6] ff., 284, pp., [2] ff.
$2000.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition. A multi-part memorial volume from the Plantin–Moretus press in honor of Philippe Rubens (1574–1611), brother of the famed artist, whose Greek and Latin rendition of the Homilies by Asterius, Bishop of Amasia (ca. 375–405), occupies the first section of the text, here in Greek and Latin printed in double columns. Little is known about Asterius, Bishop of Amasea, and there has been much scholarly debate regarding exactly which homilies should be attributed to his authorship and which to other early Christians, including Asterius the Sophist; the Catholic Encyclopedia online says his works provide “valuable material to the Christian archaeologist.”
The second section here includes verses Rubens composed in the later years prior to his death in 1611 and dedicated to illustrious members of his circle including the humanist Justus Lipsius, Janus Woverius, and Peter Paul Rubens and Isabelle Brant, who married in 1609. Brant’s father, Jan, composed the introductory letter to the reader.
The volume was published at the request of Cardinal Ascanius Columnas in an edition of
only 750 copies, and was printed at Antwerp at the press of Moretus’ widow and sons with the famous Plantin device appearing in two versions (engraved, to the title, and woodcut, to the final recto).
A full-page engraved funeral portrait of Rubens engraved by Cornelius Galle
after Peter Paul Rubens signals the beginning of the third section, in which Jan Brant records the life of his son-in-law’s brother and transcribes his epitaph. Even Balthasar Moretus contributes an epigram in honor of the deceased.
In the fourth section, Rubens’ own orations and selected letters appear, i.a. his funeral oration to Philip II of Spain. Josse DeRycke contributed the final funerary tribute.
Done up in fully elegant Plantin–Moretus style, the volume has in addition to its careful typography and full-page plate and devices been lavished throughout with two-line block initials and four-line historiated woodcut initials; also, it offers several intricate woodcut tailpieces.
Searches of NUC Pre-1956 and WorldCat locate only eight copies in U.S. institutions, one of which has been deaccessioned; most are
not in obvious places.
Graesse, I, 241; Corpus Rubenianum, XXI (1977), 152. Period-style full brown calf, covers framed in blind double fillets, spine with gilt-stamped red leather title-label, raised bands with blind tooling extending onto covers. With a few odd spots to the text only, this is a
remarkably fine, crisp copy. All edges green. (28878)
Two
Church Fathers
Two
Scholar Printers
An
Apparatus by Erasmus
Athanasius, Saint, Patriarch of Alexandria. Athanasii Episcopi Alexandrini sanctissima, eloquentissma que opera ... que omnia olimia[m] latina facta Christophoro Porsena, Ambrosio Monacho, Angelo Politiano, interpretibus, una cum doctissima Erasmi Roterodani ad pium lectorem paraclesi. [bound with another work as below]. Parisiis: Joanne Paruo [i.e., Jean Petit] , [1519]. Folio extra. [6], 255, [66] ff. [bound with] Basil, Saint, Bishop of Caesarea.
Basilii Magni Caesariensium in Cappadocia Antistitis sanctissimi opera plane diuina, variis e locis sedulo collecta: & accuratio[n]e ac impe[n]sis Iodici Badii Asce´sii recognita & coimpressa, quorum index proxima pandetur charta. [Paris: Venundantur eidem Ascensio [i.e., Badius Ascensius, 1520]. Folio extra. [10], 178 ff.
$3850.00
Click any image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.
Two editions of Church Fathers from two scholar/printer presses. St. Athanasius's text was translated into Latin by three noted Renaissance scholars, edited by Nicholas Beraldus, and has the added prestige of apparatus by Erasmus. The title-page is printed within a four-piece woodcut border, with the title in red and black, and the page bears the famous Petit printer's device. The text enjoys handsome typography, side- and shouldernotes, and large woodcut initials.
The St. Basil is from Badius Ascensius's press and he acted as the editor, the translators having been Johannes Argyropoulos, Georgius Trapezuntius, and others. The title-page uses the same four-part woodcut title-page border as found on the St. Athanasius, bound in at the front, which makes much sense given the familial relationship between Ascensius and Petit.
Athanasius: Index Aurel. 109.388; Moreau, II, 1982. Basil: Index Aurel. 114.440; Renouard, Ascensius, II, 145/146; Moreau, II, 2246. Alum-tawed pigskin, elaborately tooled in blind over wooden boards with metal and leather clasps; one clasp perished. Binding with one corner tip broken off; small hole in leather on rear board; dust-soiled. Inside, some early marginalia and underlining in red; narrow arc of old, light waterstaining to fore-edges of one part. Pages generally very clean. (19915)

On Private Worship: An Oratory in One's Home
Baquero, Francisco de Paula. Disertacion apologetica a favor del privilegio, que por costumbre introducida por la Bula de la santa cruzada goza la Nacion Española en el uso de los oratorios domesticos, leida, en la Real Academia de buenas letras de Sevilla en 25. de octubre de 1771. En Sevilla: Por D. Josef Padrino, [colophon, 1777]. Small 4to (18.5 cm; 7.25"). [1] f., 104 pp.
$750.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Our author was the “cura mas antiguo del Sagrario de [Sevilla],
examinador Synodal de su arzobispado, comisario y revisor de libros del Santo
Oficio, academico numerario,” and the “censor de dicha Real Academia.”
His work was first read before the Real Academia on 25 October 1771 but because
of delays in obtaining the necessary licenses to print it, publication was delayed
until 1777.
In this work of canon law and Catholic Church customs and practices, Baquero
studies the privilege that the Bull of the Holy Crusade granted the Spanish
nation regarding oratories in private residences; it applied not only to Spain
but to colonies as well.
The first of three, this edition was published by “un amigo del author.”
The other editions appeared in 1781 AND
1861.
Only one U.S. library reports ownership of either the 1777 or 1781 edition.
It should be noted that there is NO 1771 edition, despite Palau and online
cataloguing; cataloguers have simply failed to look at the last page of the
supposed 1771 edition to see that the colophon is dated 1777.
This offers one very pretty large initial and some modestly nice work with
type ornaments.
Palau 23499 (giving wrong date of publication). Contemporary
limp vellum, a bit missing from back cover; evidence of ties, and binding
with light dust-soiling. Lacking rear free endpaper. A clean, nice copy. (29596)

“Born & Educated a
Congregational Dissenter, of the Strict Puritanic Order”
& Then a
Roman Catholic Convert & Priest!
Barber, Daniel. The history of my own times. [Part I]. Washington City: Pr. for the author, by S.C. Ustick, 1827. 8vo (21 cm; 8.25"). 48 pp.
[SOLD]
Click the images for enlargements.
The first, freestanding part of this highly particular account that intertwines personal and family chronicle with notes and commentary on the settlement of New England, the American Revolution, Claremont (New Hampshire) town history, and more — the section on witchcraft, for example, offering the amusing and cautionary tale, or parable, of one Heron, a “conjuror.” Barber shows in detail and even with dialogue what was involved in trying to live a consciously religious life in his times and place; his account of his conversion is interesting not only as biography but as social history. Part II appeared in 1828 and part III in 1832.
Barber, who had served as a soldier in the Continental Army, was “born and educated a congregational Dissenter, of the strict puritanic order” (p. 28), but became an Episcopalian minister and was happy and confident in his Anglican faith until he was above 60 years old, when (after travels during which he saw his first Catholic priest and first Catholic church ever, p. 32) he converted with his entire family to Catholicism. (His son Virgil became a Jesuit, and Virgil's wife, Jerusha, became a Visitine nun.)
At the end of this pamphlet are three poems by Barber.
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 922; Shoemaker 28051; Sabin 3314. Stitched as issued. Age-toning, dust-soiling, occasional light foxing as to be expected. Library stamps on title-page and accession data in ink in small, neat hand at base of same. (31063)

“Opera quae exstant”
NOT
Basilius Seleucensis. [five lines in Greek, the] B. Basilii
Seleuciae Isauriae Episcopi, qui I. Chrysostomo contubernalis fuit, Opera quae exstant. [Heidelberg]: In bibliopolio H. Commelini, 1596. 8vo (16.5 cm; 6.5"). 8, 408 pp.
$650.00
Click the interior images for enlargements.
One of several editions all printed in 1596, all bearing the same title, and all claiming to be “Opera quae exstant,” but differing in significant ways: Some editions are in Greek and Latin; some have as place of printing “Lugduni” and others have no place. The present edition contains only the homilies and is entirely in Greek.
Provenance: Early 19th-century armorial bookplate of Robert Chambers; manuscript ownership “Ex libris G.R.W.”— William R. Wittingham, fourth Anglican bishop of Baltimore (a Latinophile who used “Guillelmus” for “William”), dated Sept. 22, 1856; later in the diocesan library of Maryland; deaccessioned 2006.
VD16 B 727. Contemporary limp vellum with evidence of ties; slightly yapp edges. Occasional light foxing. 19th-century library stamps on the front free endpaper and title-page. A clean solid copy. (24432)

“Torrents of Bloud & Devouring Flames”: The Horrors of the Inquisition
Beaulieu, Luke de. The Holy Inquisition, wherein is represented what is the religion of the Church of Rome: And how they are dealt with that dissent from it. London: Joanna Brome, 1681. 8vo (18.3 cm, 7.25"). Add. engr. t.-p., [16], 250, [6] pp.
$1450.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition of an anti-Catholic, pro-Anglican look at the “superstitions and cruelties” of the Inquisition, including torture — depicted in several forms on the engraved title-page here. This copy is in the first of two states described by ESTC: the quotation around the cross on the engraved title-page begins “Exurge Dne.” The publisher was
Joanna Brome, who took over her husband's printing and bookselling business after his death.
ESTC R13764; Wing (rev. ed.) B1574. Period-style quarter speckled calf with marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title and compartment decorations. Title-page with a few faint spots in upper margin and small chip to outer margin; pages gently age-toned and slightly cockled, otherwise clean. (32199)


 |
(CATHOLIC)
BIBLES
ORDERED
BY DATE
|
The Sixtine Septuagint — A Handsome Zannetti Folio
Bible. O.T. Septuagint. 1587. [five lines in Greek, romanized as] He Palaia Diatheke kata tous hebdomekonta di' authentias Xystou E'. Akrou Archiereos ekdotheisa. Vetus Testamentum iuxta septuaginta ex auctoritate Sixti V. Pont. Max. editum. Romae: Ex typographia Francesci Zannetti, 1586 [i.e., 1587]. Folio (36 cm; 13.5"). [4] ff., 783, [1] pp.
$3500.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Darlow and Moule write of this work: “Prepared under the auspices of Sixtus V., this important recension is known as the 'Sixtine' or 'Roman' edition of the Septuagint, and possesses in the Roman Church an authority similar to that of the 'Sixtine-Clementine' Vulgate. . . . The text is based on the famous Vatican MS. known as Codex B, corrected to some extent and supplemented . . . by other MSS. . . . Critical materials collected by Morinus, Agelli, Nobilius, and others, are appended to each chapter.” The whole was edited by Cardinal Antonio Carafa.
The Council of Trent ordered the preparation of new editions of the Vulgate and the Hebrew and Greek Bible texts. This edition, fulfilling one of those mandates, “became the basis for most subsequent editions until the nineteenth century and is still admired for its accuracy and scholarship. The text of this edition was reprinted in the London Polyglot” (Pelikan).
Printed in double-column format in a handsome Greek font, the folio bears a title-page offering a large copper engraving of the papal coat of arms flanked by the figures of Moses and Esdras and the text has woodcut initials and tailpieces..
Evidence of readership: Notes or corrections in Greek, Latin, or English in a few places.
Darlow & Moule 4647; Rumball-Petre 244; Pelikan, Reformation of the Bible, 1.24; Adams B1246; Graesse, I, 381; Barbier, IV, 1402; Huth, Huth Library, 157. Recent dark brown goat tooled in blind in the style of the 16th century; red leather spine label, date in gilt at base of spine. Old (good) repairs to title-leaf; same leaf with library pressure-stamp in lower blank corner; four-digit number in ink on first preliminary page. Two leaves discolored in inner margin from a silk place marker no longer present; occasional brown staining or foxing in margins. Oddly, pp. 472 and 473 are browned probably from something that had been pressed between them but pp. 471 and 474 are not browned.
A magisterial production, a worthy copy. (10493)
Bible. N.T. English. Rheims–Bishops’ version. 1601. The text of the New Testament of Jesus Christ, translated out of the vulgar Latine by the Papists ... at Rhemes ... Whereunto is added the translation out of the original Greeke, commonly used in the Church of England, with a confutation of all such arguments, glosses, and annotations, as conteine manifest impietie, of heresie ... against the Catholike Church of God ... [ed.] by W. Fulke. London: Robert Barker, 1601. Folio (31.5 cm, 12.25"). [21] ff., 914 [i.e., 912] pp., [5] ff.
$5000.00
Click the interior images for enlargements.
When the Jesuit scholars at Rheims succeeded in printing their Catholic translation of the New Testament into English (first edition, 1582), the event affected various English Protestant scholars in different ways: Some were offended or outraged, others intrigued, and yet others spurred to action. William Fulke, of Pembroke College, Cambridge, was among those offended, outraged, and spurred: In 1589 he produced the first edition of his work attempting to refute the Rheims New Testament. His approach, however — which was to print the Rheims NT in parallel columns with the Bishops' NT (the then accepted version of the Church of England), supplying accompanying notes and
explanations — had unforeseen consequences.
As Darlow and Moule comment, “by printing the Rheims Testament in full, side by side with the Bishops' version, [Fulke] secured for the former a publicity which it would not otherwise have obtained, and was indirectly responsible for the marked influence which Rheims exerted on the Bible of 1611.” Alan Thomas elaborates by observing that “many a dignified or felicitous phrase was silently lifted by the editors of King James's Version, and thus passed into the language” (Great Books and Book Collectors, p. 108).
This is the second edition of the Rheims–Bishops' version of the New Testament, and thus the second printing of the Rheims in England.
All early editions of the Rheims NT are important and most are scarce. The present one has a handsome architectural woodcut border on the title-page; it is signed by the woodcut artist, “N.H.” The text is printed in double-column format, with side- and shouldernotes and with the apparatus at the bottom of the page.
Provenance: Signature of a contemporary owner “A. Thorpe, York,” undated, on A2.
STC 2900; Darlow & Moule 265; Herbert 265; ESTC S115769. Modern black calf, covers framed with single gilt rule and paneled in gilt rolls with corner fleurons. Title-page mounted, with outer edge and small hole in lower margin reinforced; dust-soiled. A2 with early inked ownership signature (see above) and notation; reinforced at hinge (inside). Other markings: two pages with marginal notations and four pages with corrections, both inked by an early hand. Bug-spotting on several preliminary leaves. Light waterstaining on some early and later leaves, with occasional odd stains and spots elsewhere, not impairing sense of text. Dust-soiling on index pages. Two preliminary leaves missing small pieces of paper in blank margins; small hole at top outer corner of Kkkk4; and small chip at top edge of Hhhh2. Fold-mark at top outer corner of Vvv2.
In fact, a very nice copy of an important book. (24477)
Bible. English. Douai–Rheims. 1811–13. The Holy Bible, translated from the Latin Vulgate... the Old Testament, first published by the English College at Doway, A.D. 1609, and the New Testament, first published by the English College at Rhemes, A.D. 1582; with annotations, references, and an historical and chronological index. Manchester: Oswald Syers, 1811–13. Folio (cm). [approx. 702] ff., lacking title–page, but having both cancel and cancelland of N.T. L2 present; (several signatures incorrectly signed); 19 plts. (1 excised & laid in).
$1950.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Scarce sole edition. Sold without direct episcopal sanction, this folio edition of the Douai– Rheims version was issued in rivalry with the better-known Haydock rendition and is the artefact of a sad story: The Catholic priests of Manchester, who mistakenly believed that Haydock’s effort to print a Douai–Rheims Bible had been abandoned after his move from that city to Dublin, therefore encouraged local printer Syers to produce his own edition — only to restore their patronage to Haydock following the discovery of their error, leaving poor Syers in the lurch.
The text generally follows the Challoner–Rheims revision, although the notes are collected from various sources. The volume is
illustrated with two frontispieces and17 plates engraved by J. Bottomley, Symns and Mitchell, and others after paintings by Westall, Raphael, Reynolds, et al.
Issued in parts in a small print run, this Bible is now uncommon.
Darlow & Moule 1034. Contemporary acid-stained calf rebacked with mottled calf, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, gilt-ruled raised bands, and blind-tooled compartment decorations; sides rubbed/scraped with leather worn over corners/edges, this not disfiguring. Hinges (inside) reinforced with cloth tape, and this large volume now strong. Lacking title-page. Plate from Genesis I:4 removed, and laid back in with margins cut away. First few leaves with edges ragged. Pages with offsetting around plates; occasional light spots of staining, mostly confined to outer margins. (11727)

Handsomely Bound
Ancient Text
Bible.
Manuscript. Psalms. Ethiopic.
Manuscript, Mäzmurä Dawit (Psalms of David), on parchment, in Ge'ez
script. [Ethiopia: ca. 1820?]. 4to (12 cm; 8" ). [180] ff. in gatherings
of 10.
[SOLD]
Click the images for enlargements.
Neatly hand-written text of Psalms and other texts in black and
red ink on parchment in Ethiopic (Ge'ez), the liturgical language of the Ethiopian
Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Title-page with decorative top border of strapwork
in blue, red, and yellow, and other decorative top borders in red and black;
margins with prickholes from the blind-ruling to aid the scribe in neatly
inditing the text.
Most of the volume is written in single column-format but the final 28
pp. are in double-column format.
Binding:
Contemporaneously bound at the time of the writing of the manuscript in rich,
dark brown goat over wood boards, spine plain and covers tooled in blind using
a variety of rolls and rules to form three borders around a central panel,
that panel tooled to create a cross.
Bound as above, strongly. Four natural flaws in the parchment,
not affecting the text. One tear in one leaf repaired by stitching, costing
a few letters; one lower corner lost away from text.; soiling and spotting
variously as is typical. An interesting, impressive volume. (30618)
Bible.
N.T. Dutch. Verhulst. 1825. Het Nieuwe Testament van onzen heere Jesus
Christus, vertaelt volgens de gemeyne Latynsche overzettinge ... Brussel: J.-B.
Dupon, 1825. 12mo (17.2 cm, 6.75"). [6], 568 pp.
$400.00
Reprinting of Verhulst’s Old Catholic edition of 1717, circulated by the British and Foreign Bible Society. The work is printed in double columns with typographic head- and tailpieces.
Darlow and Moule 3369. Contemporary diced calf, spine tooled in blind, with gilt-stamped leather title-label; edges and joints rubbed, sides with minor abrasions, spine sunned. Front pastedown with traces of a now-absent bookplate. Some light foxing, mostly confined to first few leaves. Pp. 5/6 and 7/8 bound in out of order. One leaf with short tear from upper margin, touching a few letters; one leaf with upper outer corner torn away, with loss of two letters. All edges marbled.
For
more BIBLES &
TESTAMENTS, click here.

Life's
Persistent Questions
Asked
& (Partially)
Answered
Böhme, Jakob. Betrachtung göttlicher Offenbahrung, was Gott, Natur und Creatur, so wohl Himmel, Hölle und Welt, sambt allen Creaturen sind.... Amsterdam: [Andries and David van Hoogenhuysen, for Johann Georg Gichtel], 1682. 12mo (15.4 cm, 6"). [2] ff., 48 pp.
$1000.00
Click the images for enlargement.
Second edition of 177 theosophical questions asked and 14 answered on theological anthropology: the nature of God, the origin of the world, and the character of Adam and of Christ. The German mystic, formerly cobbler, Jakob Böhme (or Behmen, or Teutonicus Philosophus, 1575–1624) overcame a charge of heresy in 1612 for his first religious treatise and, after a five-year hiatus, wrote prolifically on the subject until his death; this was
his last work, which he started and left incomplete in 1624. The present edition was probably published both as part of Böhme's Alle theosophische Wercken (15 vols. in 6) edited by Johann Georg Gichtel (1638–1710), and as a stand-alone work.
Printed in Fraktur with occasional roman for foreign words, this bears large handsome woodcut initials and an engraved plate that shows Adam standing in Heaven and Earth, as explained on the following leaf (in our copy, ff. 2–3, although others have the illustration and explanation preceding the title-page).
VD17 online 12:101402A; Buddecke, I, p. 10; Dünnhaupt, p. 678, no. 3; Bruckner, 513; for the first edition (1677), see: Faber du Faur, 113. Modern beige paper over boards, with the title, author, and date printed in gothic on the spine. Very mild foxing just visible on some leaves. (29923)

The Secret (Bloody!) Oath
Bolron, Robert. The papists bloody oath of secrecy, and letany of intercession for the carrying on of this present plot. With the manner of taking the oath, upon their entring into any grand conspiracy against the Protestants. London: Printed for Randal Taylor , 1680. Folio (28.5 cm; 11.25"). 23, [1] pp.
$225.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Bolron transcribed amazing and fantastic (in the original sense) testimony about the Popish Plot, conspirators,” the oath to be taken, and much of the alleged skullduggery, as given by William Ruston, “a popish priest.”
Title-page strikingly set in black and red. Also, partly in black-letter.
Wing (rev. ed.) B3502; ESTC R19392. Removed from a nonce volume. Very good condition. (32243)
Bona,
Giovanni. Manuductio ad coelum medullam continens sanctorum patrum,
& veterum philosophorum. Parisiis: Apud Robertum Pepie, 1692. 12mo (14.6 cm,
5.75"). A–S8,4 T2; [3] ff., 214 pp.
$495.00


Relying on insights from the Church Fathers and some ancient philosophers, this popular spiritual work has been compared to the Imitation of Christ because of the simplicity of its style. First published in 1658, it saw 14 Latin editions in its first four decades; it was also translated into Armenian, English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. The author, Giovanni Cardinal Bona (1609–74), was a Cistercian monk and abbot noted as much for his scholarship as for preserving the great simplicity of his lifestyle even after he had attained high rank in the Church.
On Bona, see: New Catholic Encyclopedia, II, 655. Speckled paper over light boards, lightly soiled. Interior with some light soiling, especially on outer pages and upper edges, and a little faint waterstaining.

Louis
XIV's
Court
Preacher
Bossuet,
Jacques Bénigne. El celebre catecismo de la doctrina
christiana ... Es muy util, no solo para los ninos, si tambien para los jovenes,
y los ancianos, pues instruye a los maestros de suerte, que estos puedan ensenar
con todo acierto a sus discipulos. Madrid: Andrés Ortega, 1770. 4to.
(20.5 cm; 8"). xxviii, 438 pp., plt.
$850.00
Click the images for enlargement.
Bishop Bossuet (1627–1704) was a renowned preacher, orator, and theologian of his time. He was also the court preacher to Louis XIV of France and not unexpectedly a strong advocate of political absolutism and the divine right of kings. His Catéchisme du diocèse de Meaux (1687) became a model in certain orthodox Catholic theological circles and was reprinted often in French. This is the first edition in Spanish, the translator being Miguel Joseph Fernández.
The title-page here is in black and red, opposite a fine frontispiece of Christ seated, surrounded by adults and children and the quotation from Matthew 19:14 (i.e., “Sinite parvulos et nolite eos prohibere ad me venire talium est enim regnum caelorum,” or in English, “Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven”).
The engraving is by Juan Antonio Salvador after Maella.
Preceding the frontispiece is a leaf of publisher's advertising for other works by Bossuet and translations by Fernandez.
Such advertising leaves in Spanish books of this era are very uncommon in our 30 years of experience.
Searches of NUC Pre-1956 and WorldCat locate no copies of this edition in U.S. libraries. Searches of COPAC found no Spanish-language 18th-century editions. Searches of the Catálogo Colectivo del Patrimonio Bibliográfico gave the best results, with 15 copies of this first edition found in libraries across Spain.
Palau 33620. Contemporary vellum over light boards; button and loop closures (broken). Inconsistent browning varying from gathering to gathering, having to do with impurities in water used in paper manufacture and subsequent exposure to humidity. Light waterstain to foremargin of the frontispiece and slightly into the image. Withal, a rather good copy of a book that is difficult to find in today's market. (29824)

The
Beginning of
Demographic
Studies
Botero,
Giovanni. Relaciones universales del
mundo ... primera y segunda parte. Valladolid: Impresso por los herederos de
Diego Fernandez de Cordoua, 1603–1599. Folio (27 cm; 10.5"). [4], 207,
110 ff. (without final blank and without the maps).
$1875.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Botero (1540–1617) was an Italian thinker, priest, poet, and diplomat, and after 1580 an expelled Jesuit. His Relaciones universales del mondo, originally published 1594 to 1595 in Italian, tells of the “universal church” (i.e., Catholicism) in various parts of the world, including America, the Old World, India, the circum-Mediterranean, Africa, China, the Philippines, Japan, and Southeast Asia, but also England, Scotland, Ireland, and “the realm of Prester John.” More than a few scholars view this as one of the first demographic studies.
This first edition, second issue in Spanish is the translation of Diego de Aguiar. It is composed of the sheets of first edition of 1600–1599 with a new title-page. Printed in roman type, double-column format, it offers a liberal sprinkling of large woodcut initials, some of which are historiated.
Provenance: 19th-century private ownership stamp on verso of title-leaf; bookplate of the John Carter Brown Library (with small release stamp) on the front pastedown.
Alden & Landis, European Americana, 603/17; Sabin 6809; Palau 33704; Medina, BHA, 468. 18th-century mottled sheep, raised bands, gilt spine extra; spine gorgeously bright and covers with some abrasions. Title-page and final leaf with foremargins excised and the leaves mounted; first folio 113 with short tears repaired with with cello tape now darkened. Occasional foxing and the other odd spot or stain only; all edges red and a blue ribbon placemarker. A text volume only, this lacks the maps and is priced accordingly; it is an important and famous work with a good provenance in an otherwise very handsome copy, for the reader. (28307)

A Jesuit Pioneer in
India & Japan
Bouhours,
Dominique. La vie de Saint François
Xavier, de la Compagnie de Jésus, apostre des Indes et du Japon. Nouvelle
édition. Paris: Chez Guillot, 1787. 12mo (16 cm, 6.5"). 2 (of 2) vols.
I: 24, 442, [2] pp. (lacks frontis.) II: [4], 418, [1] pp.
$900.00

Later edition of this French Jesuit's biography of Saint Francis Xavier, in two volumes; first pu blished in Paris, in 1682, it is here complete in six books, with a “Table des Matières” at end of second volume. Per Sommervogel, it is the “edition du P. Brolier, qui a mis on tête la lettre de Condé au P. Talon sur cette Vie et l'a fait suivre d'observations.”
Click the interior image for an enlargement.
The New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia notes that Dominique Bouhours (1632–1702) was best known to English readers as the author of this much-reprinted work and an earlier life of Ignatius of Loyola; for a long time these were “the most widely circulated biographies” of the two saints. Bouhours also achieved prominence for his anti-Jansenist writings.
The pair of volumes were nicely printed, with some nicely engraved head- and tailpieces. The text offers sidenotes.
Rare. A search of OCLC records only two copies, of which this is one, now deaccessioned.
De Backer-Sommervogel, I, 1904–1905; Cordier, Bibliotheca Japonica, 146. Recent full calf, covers framed and panelled with single gilt fillets and with gilt-stamped corner fleurons; spines gilt extra, with gilt-ruled raised bands, gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels, gilt publication date at foot, and elaborately gilt-tooled floral decorations in compartments; marbled endpapers. Tear in outer margin of pp. 269/270, just barely touching sidenotes; very occasional foxing; offsetting from leather of previous binding affecting first and last leaves at margins, including title-pages. Ex-library, with faint penciled notations on verso of title-page and at base of following page in each volume. Vol. I lacks the frontispiece portrait. Faults noted, still a good copy and in an attractive binding. (24526)

“Not Daring to Stay Any Longer in Ireland”
Bourk, Hubert. The information of Hubert Bourk, gent. touching the Popish Plot in Ireland, carried on by the conspiracies of the Earl of Tyrone. London: Printed for Randolph Taylor, 1680. Folio (28.5 cm; 11.25"). [4] ff., 27, [1 (blank)] pp.
$225.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Bourk's testimony against Richard Power, first Earl of Tyrone, which in part led to his conviction as a conspirator and several years in the Tower. The caption quotation is the “Information's” last line and is preceded by Bourk's tale of the terrible developments by which matters got to that pass.
WIng (rev. ed.) B3843; ESTC R19524. Removed from a nonce volume; very good condition, very clean and nice. (32236)

His Story of
the Reformation
Brandt, Gerard. Historie der Reformatie, en andre kerkelyke geschiedenissen, in en ontrent de Nederlanden. Amsterdam: Jan Rieuwertsz, Hendrik [&] Dirk Boom; Rotterdam: Barent Bos, 1671–1704. 4to (22.6 cm, 8.9"). 4 vols. I: Engraved t.-p., [15] ff., 847, [1] p.; 56, [56] pp.; 9 plts. II: [14] ff., 996, [48] pp.; 8 plts. III: [4] ff., 976 (i.e., 990), [46] pp. (lacking final blank); 5 plts. IV: [1] f., 1116, [32] pp.; 4 plts.
$450.00
Click the images for enlargements.
This is the
first edition of vols. II–IV, and the second edition of vol. I (enlarged from the same author's Verhaal van de reformatie, 1663), of the seminal history of the Reformation in the Low Countries to 1623 — describing the main events and major players — by the Dutch Remonstrant preacher and historian Gerard Brandt (1626–85).
The text is in Dutch, printed in roman and italic, with sidenotes (including handy dates in roman numerals, to make following the chronology easier), woodcut floriated initials, and ornaments; one tailpiece is signed I.I.D. in the first volume. Each title-page features a woodcut printer's device, and the
engraved title-page in vol. I is signed by Romeyn de Hooghe (1645–1708). In the four volumes combined there are
25 full-page engraved portraits, including one woman, Louise de Coligny, all signed by various artists, among whom Hendrik Bary (1632–1707); Anthony van Zylvelt (ca. 1640–95); Jacob von Sandrart (1630–1708) and P. Sluyter (fl. 1700); John de Leeuw (b. ca. 1660), and Barent Bos, who issued vols. III and IV of this set at Rotterdam; and one full-page engraved plate illustrating the
Synod of Dordrecht in vol. III.
Provenance: Armorial bookplate on front pastedown (I-IV) of
Howard Osgood, D.D., LL.D. (1831–1911), a major contributor to the American Standard Revised Version of the Bible (1901) who taught Hebrew at Crozer Theological Seminary (1868–74) and Rochester Theological Seminary (1875–1900).
Ter Meulen & Diermanse 893; STCN 167104 (I), 167404 (II), 170404 (III-IV). On Brandt, see: P. Burke, “The Politics of Reformation History: Burnet and Brandt,” in Clio's Mirror: Historiography in Britain and the Netherlands (1985), pp. 73–85. On Prof. Osgood, see: his obituary in The Biblical World, vol. 39, no. 2 (Feb. 1912), pp. 137–39. Contemporary full calf, board edges gilt-stamped, spines gilt extra with raised bands and red morocco label; multicolored speckled edges. Joints cracked on all volumes but holding fine; spine leather cracked and chipped at ends, boards scuffed and somewhat sprung. Ex-library: pressure-stamp on title-pages and stamp to bottom edges, no other markings. A few repairs, wormholes, and very mild to moderate foxing, heavier in last two volumes; vol. IV with a bit of light waterstaining and some other indications of onetime exposure to moisture. A worn but
worthwhile set. (31172)

Comparing French Canon Law to Roman Catholic
Under Threat “d'Excommunication”
Brissot de Warville, Jean Pierre. Rome jugée, et
l'autorité législative du pape anéantie; pour servir de réponse aux bulles passées, nouvelles et
futures, du pape, etc. Paris: Buisson, 1791. 8vo (21.7 cm, 8.5"). viii, 60 pp.
$150.00
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Untrimmed copy, with the half-title present, of this history and analysis of canon
law written by one of the most prominent Girondists. The work was originally published
anonymously in 1784 under the title L'authorité de Rome anéantie, and appears here with a
preface (dated 1791) warning that “Le Pape nous menace d'excommunication. . . .”
Martin & Walter, I, 5255. In plain paper wrappers, text block
simply sewn as issued; wrappers chipped, front wrapper with paper shelving label and pencilled
and inked annotations. Page edges uncut and slightly ragged; pages age-toned with spots of light
foxing. (30824)

Really Printed in
Kilkenny, not Cologne
Burke, Thomas. Hibernia Dominicana. Sive Historia Provinciae Hiberniae Ordinis Praedicatorum. Coloniae Agrippinae [i.e., Kilkenny]: ex typographia Metternichiana sub Signo Gryphi, 1762. 4to (23 cm; 9.125"). xv,, 949, [1] pp.
$2250.00
Click the interior images for enlargements.
Burke (ca. 1710–76) was a Dominican who after 1759 served as Bishop of Ossory. Throughout his life he was an important intermediary link between the Catholic Church of Ireland and the Vatican. His chief published work is this history of the Dominican Order in Ireland, which exists in four states: with or without episcopal rank of the author spelled out as opposed to abbreviated with ellipses on the title-page; imprint reading Cologne or Kilkenny. The British Isles origin of the “Cologne” printing is confirmed by lower-case preliminary roman page numbers and page numbers in square brackets, and the first gathering’s sig. “B.”
Those copies with the Kilkenny impirnt (Killkenniae: ex typographi Jacobi Stokes) are far fewer than those with the Cologne imprint, but it is clear that all copies were printed at Kilkenny by Stokes.
Not a common work: NUC Pre-1956 and OCLC combine to locate only eight copies in U.S. libraries.
Provenance: On title-page, ownership inscriptions of the Revs. Thomas Qualy (1829) and Jacob Cleary. Additional Cleary ownership inscriptions on p. 1 (1873) and iii (1891), the latter a gift inscription on the occasion of that owner's giving the volume to a Rev. Thomas Kelly.
Bradshaw Irish Coll., nos. 5222-5223; ESTC t036179. Recent full brown calf with covers panelled in the Cambridge style, author/title/etc. lettering in gilt directly to spine; spine with gilt rules above and below bands and gilt devices in the compartments. Title-page soiled and small portion of lower inside blank margin torn away and repaired; same page has old library call number in ink and the date of publication in ballpoint! Ownership notes as above. Very light waterstain in lower blank margins of preliminary leaves. Generally a very nice, clean copy. (24805)

A SET of This Anglican Classic in
Red Morocco
Burnet, Gilbert. The history of the reformation of the Church of England. London: W. Baynes & Son (pr. by Charles Wood), 1825. 6 vols. 12mo (15 cm, 5.9"). I: Frontis., add. engr. t.-p., xxxvi, 474 pp. II: Add. engr. t.-p., [4], 456 pp. III: Frontis., add. engr. t.-p., xliv, 536 pp. IV: Add. engr. t.-p., [4], 494 pp. V: Frontis., add. engr. t.-p., lxiii, [1], 399, [1] pp. VI: Add. engr. t.-p., [4], 457, [3] pp.
$600.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Attractive early 19th-century edition of the Bishop of Salisbury's
widely acclaimed history, based by Burnet as closely as possible on original
records and papers. First printed in 1679 through 1714, this work was for many
years considered the definitive source on its subject, though Burnet's aggressively
Protestant and pro-parliamentary bias was questioned by some readers.
This is here for its ANTI-Catholic interest!
Each volume features a steel-engraved additional title-page, and the odd-numbered volumes open with steel-engraved portraits of the author, Henry VIII, and Archbishop Cranmer.
Bindings: Contemporary crimson straight-grain morocco, covers framed in gilt double fillets surrounding one gilt and one blind-tooled roll. Spines with gilt-stamped titles, three wide bands of gilt-stamping, and raised bands with triple gilt-stamped fillets. All edges gilt.
NSTC 2B60409. Bindings as above, spines and board edges slightly darkened, corners and edges showing minor wear, spine leather with small surface cracks, two spines with extremities refurbished, one volume with front joint carefully repaired. Front pastedowns each with institutional presentation bookplate, front fly-leaves each with early inked ownership inscription. Vol. V with front fly-leaf and frontispiece separated; vol. VI with outer edges of three early leaves tattered and some lower corners dog-eared. Pages very slightly age-toned, otherwise clean.
A lovable set. (25537)
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