•  NSTC 2B62711; Shoemaker 19905. On Butler, see: Dictionary of National Biography. Contemporary paper-covered boards, spine with printed paper label; sides with spots of light discoloration, paper split and cracked along joints and spine, paper shelving label on spine. Front pastedown with institutional bookplate; front free endpaper with inked ownership inscription dated 1828; front free endpaper, title-page, and dedication rubber-stamped. Back free endpaper affixed to back pastedown. Sewing loosening. Pages untrimmed.

This work was first published in 1613, and the title-page of the first edition exists in two states, of which this—with the author’s name after the title and “Apud” before the publisher’s name—is apparently the less common. The title is printed within an engraved architectural border depicting the theological and cardinal virtues, while the text is decorated with a few woodcut initials, woodcut and typographic headpieces, and a simple tailpiece at the end. A further edition was issued in Lyons in 1614.

•  DeBacker-Sommervogel, II, 439. Vellum over paste boards, covers sprung and moderately soiled; remnants of paper shelf label at base of spine. Bookplate and shelf label affixed to front pastedown; endpapers lightly soiled and pastedowns tearing along turn-ins. Text lightly age-toned with a very light old waterstain to lower and outer margins. Two shallow tears into the engraved border of the title-page, one with a little loss; a few leaves shallowly tattered on the top edge and a few with small holes in the margins. All edges red, faded.