RELIGION

A Manual for Confessors

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•  Tamburini (1591–1675) was an Italian Jesuit who published his Methodus expeditae confessionis, tum pro confessariis tum pro poenitentibus for the first time at Milan in 1648. It enjoyed considerable success with at least ten editions in the 17th century and six in the 18th. This is the first New World edition.

An interesting work on confession and Christian ethics, this was written for confessors, covering a multitude of topics from the general concept of confession to superstition, sacrilege, adultery, lying during confession, and on to absolution. Tamburini also addresses condemned propositions and speculations.

Searches of NUC Pre-1956 and WorldCat locate fewer than eight copies of this edition in U.S. libraries.

•  Medina, Mexico. 4745; this edition not in DeBacker-Sommervogel.   Contemporary Mexican sheep binding, gilt spine extra, all edges red; covers with wear and abrasions, spine tips pulled with loss of leather and a small area of old, red, transluscent staining at base. Lacks half-title (half-titles are rare in Mexican books of this era). Small worming to lower inner margin throughout, most often only pinhole but occasionally into the text and touching letters. Generally, a nice and clean little book.  (29855)

“ChristiansUnjustly Accused of Polytheism” — On the Unity of Jehovah

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•  First edition. The ostensible conversion of the title was actually an excuse to attack the Athanasian creed; written by the controversialist Rev. Henry Taylor and addressed to Elisha Levi, these letters “espoused the restrained Arianism of Samuel Clarke . . . and embraced the Apollinarian heresy which questioned the human nature of Christ's person” (DNB).

Letters II–IV and V–VII have separate title-pages, dated 1773 and 1774 respectively.

•  ESTC T101252; Allibone 2344; Lowndes 2581–82. On Taylor, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online.   Recent quarter calf with marbled paper–covered sides, leather edges tooled in blind, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped decorations in compartments. Outer (closed) edges institutionally rubber-stamped; title-page and one other pressure-stamped in an old style. Very clean and with wide margins.  (25083)

Anglican Moral Theology from“the Shakespeare of Divines”

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•  First edition: Important philosophical treatise on conscience, casuistry, and Christian ethics, written by the Bishop of Down and Connor. The controversialist Taylor, crowned “the Shakespeare of divines” by Ralph Waldo Emerson, was the subject during his career of a number of accusations of crypto-popery, but the present work — the first of its kind — was designed as a “complete protestant answer to the many Roman Catholic manuals of casuistry” (according to the Oxford DNB online) and intended to provide an authoritative Anglican reference on the subject.

The portrait of the author was engraved by Pierre Lombard, while the added engraved title-page is unsigned. Each of the four books here (in two volumes) has a separate title-page; the main title-pages are printed in black and ruled in red. The text is in English, Greek, and Latin. A printed addenda slip is affixed to the final text page of vol. II, above the catalogue of books sold by Richard Royston. Leaf L6 in vol. II is a cancel (and separated).

Provenance:  Vol. I added title-page recto with inked ownership inscription dated 1781 (“T. Moore”); vol. II front fly-leaf with inked ownership inscription dated 1696 (“Guilel. Rayner”) and another (of “T. Moore's”) dated 1781.

•  ESTC R20123; Wing (rev.) T324; Allibone 2348. On Taylor, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online.   Recent quarter calf and marbled paper–covered sides, leather edges tooled in blind, spine with gilt-stamped title and volume labels and gilt-stamped decorations between raised bands. Ownership inscriptions as above. First few leaves of vol. I (including regular and added title-pages) with tiny spots of worming; slightly larger sections of same to inner margins of some subsequent leaves; a number of pages in both volumes with scattered spots of worming, touching letters but not affecting sense. Light waterstaining to outer margins of some leaves. One leaf in vol. II separated. Significant and attractive.  (24889)

A HandsomeVictorian Edition

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•  Attractive set of these two enduringly popular works by the Bishop of Down and Connor (1613–67), here well printed with half-titles and title-pages in red and black, and a steel-engraved frontispiece in the first volume.


Binding:  Prize binding from King Edward VI's Grammar School (Bury St. Edmunds): Contemporary walnut-brown calf, framed and panelled in blind double fillets with blind-stamped corner crosses and gilt-stamped English Royal coat of arms (with the quarter of France and dragon supporter) as central medallions; spines with gilt-stamped leather title-labels and blind-stamped crosses in compartments.

Provenance: Front fly-leaf of vol. I with inked inscription dated 1863, noting this set's presentation to R.K. Rodwell as an “Extra Prize for the best English Essay.”

•  NSTC 2T3717.   Bound as above, spines and extremities rubbed. Endpapers and frontispiece lightly spotted. All edges stained red.  (21923)

The One Necessity

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•  Second edition of the Unum necessarium, following the first of 1653, followed by the first edition of the Further Explication. Jeremy Taylor (1613–67), a High Church divine and chaplain to Charles I, was well known as a theologian and one of the school of Caroline Divines who brilliantly systematized Anglican theology in the 17th century. The first of these present works caused him some difficulty, as some of its arguments were widely considered unorthodox and antidoctrinal; the Further Explication was Taylor’s attempt to clarify his position.

The engraved frontispiece by P. Lombart depicts Jesus in shepherd guise, and is followed by a title-page printed in red and black. An oversized, folding plate shows a contrite heart accompanied by scriptural figures and allegorical images; this is also signed, Lombart. Both works came off the press with incorrect pagination, the latter with apparent page count being thrown significantly off.

Provenance: Front pastedown with armorial bookplate of Charles Grave Hudson.

•  ESTC R203751; Wing (rev.) T415. Contemporary speckled calf, framed in blind, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; leather cracked over joints and spine. Occasional pencilled bracketing.

Controversial Apocalyptic “Analysis”
   [“Controversial” being ONE Word for It!]

•  Uncommon second, expanded edition: Ananti-Catholic examination of biblical prophesy, written by a minister of Larbert who claimed that much of Revelation had been fulfilled by the actions of the king of Prussia, and who predicted the total destruction of Turkey (to the delight, it was rumored, of Catherine the Great). The Monthly Review, expressing doubt over the “new and amazing explications” contained in the first edition, concluded that “you will find in [this book] such things as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered the heart of any man, except the heart of Mr. Lauchlan Taylor . . . or of that other wonderful Decypherer, who discovered the Cherokee Indians in the prophecies of Ezekiel” (Vol. XXVIII, March 1763). Click the image for an enlargement.

Leaf containing pp. 109–10 is a cancel.

•  ESTC T115642.   Removed from a nonce volume. Title-page with inked numeral in upper outer corner. Occasional light staining or dust-soiling; one outer margin with inked annotation. A nice, neat book.  (27637)

Loving the Sinner, Hating the Sin — SLAVERY

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•  First edition: Thoughts on Methodist church fellowship for Christian slaveholders, and on abolition in general. Although arguing here at length that slavery is immoral and unchristian, Taylor also posits that the Church as an organization cannot take an official stand on its legality due to the necessity of maintaining separation between religious and civil matters.

•  Not in Library Company, Afro-Americana (rev. ed.); not in Sabin.   Publisher's brown cloth, covers framed in blind, spine with gilt-stamped title and elaborate decorations; spine and edges moderately sunned, extremities rubbed, front joint with small spot of insect damage. Back pastedown with pencilled calculations. Foxed, with a few lower outer corners bumped.  (30358)

MuchFunereal Detail . . .

•  Zachary Taylor's sudden death (possibly from eating a bowl of bad cherries) was a shock to the nation. His funeral took place in Washington on July 12th, 1850, with an estimated 100,000 people attending the funeral procession. The presidential hearse was drawn by eight white horses accompanied by grooms dressed in white and wearing white turbans. Behind the hearse were military units, pall-bearers (drawn from the ranks of Congress, the military, and the Supreme Court), the president's beloved horse "Old Whitey," his family, and a long line of citizens. The procession stretched over two miles. This book has a detailed account of the procession as well as speeches by many Washington dignitaries

•  Not in Sabin. Quarter buckram over paper-covered sides. Without the original mourning wrappers. "Mercantile Library Co." blind-stamped on both sides. Paper call number label on spine. Edges and corners worn, tips of spine pulled, with loss. Ownership signature on front fly leaf, and charge pocket and card on rear free endpaper. Dog-eared. (3722)

The Scottish Church Divided

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•  From about 1820 through 1843 the Church of Scotland was in turmoil over the question of lay patronage and its implications regarding civil authority over the church; in 1843, after the “Ten Years’ Conflict” between the evangelical and moderate branches of the church, the issues were temporarily resolved by “the Disruption,” in which close to a third of the ministers of the Church of Scotland separated to form the Free Church of Scotland. The upheaval prompted the publication of numerous pamphlets and treatises on the controversy, and its effects continued to be felt in Scotland for many years afterward.

The collection contains works by many of the principal voices of the conflict. The vast majority of the publications are from ca. 1840.

A good research collection. 

•  All items are in good to very good condition, disbound, a few with library markings (stamps) but a few only. The strange glossy effect in our “group photo” is the pamphlets' archival mylar folders, reflecting light — nothing worse, and nothing stranger!  You can CLICK HERE for a list.   Do note, please, that this gathering is being sold as a collection only.

Early American Edition: German Reformed Hymnal

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•  Gerhardt Tersteegen (1697–1769) was a pillar of German pietism, a popular and innovative poet noted for his use of free verse, and (along with Joachim Neander) one of the two most significant German hymnographers of the 18th century. First published in 1729, his “Spiritual Flower Garden for Ardent Souls” contains “end-rhymes,” “meditations,” and hymns. The first American edition appeared in 1747; this is the fourth.

•  Evans 23823; ESTC W21016; Arndt & Eck 805.   Contemporary mottled sheep, covers framed in blind, with remnants of original clasp, spine with later gilt-stamped leather title and publication labels; leather mildly rubbed, spine leather with small cracks, spine and joints unobtrusively repaired. Front free endpaper with pencilled ownership inscription dated 1835; afterwards, ex–theological library: Old-fashioned bookplate on front pastedown, title-page pressure-stamped, pocket on back pastedown. Pagination erratic; several pages appearing out of order. A few corners bumped or dog-eared; a good many sections moderately browned and stained as is commonly seen with these Germantown imprints.  (27905)

Nihil obstat — Documents from the Vatican Archives
A Bit of Skullduggery in the Background

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•  A compendium of letters and documents from the Vatican Library concerning the ecclesiastical history of Hungary in the years 1216–1352 and 1352–1526, respectively — primary sources in Latin and Italian, listed in a table of contents at the beginning of each volume and indexed “virorum et locorum praecipuorum” at the end.

The Catholic canonist Augustin Theiner (1804–74) went to the Vatican Archives in 1850 at the invitation of Pius IX, who five years later appointed him Prefect. During his tenure at the BAV, Theiner published numerous collections of primary source material, including the present set. In 1870, however, he was dismissed from his esteemed post for sharing documents related to the Council of Trent with opponents of the Curia during Vatican Council (1869–70).

Provenance:  Bookplates of Madison University Library and Colgate University Library on the front pastedown of each volume, and Madison again on the half-title.

•  NCE, 14, 9 (Theiner); A. Mauri, “A. Theiner”, in ArchStorIt 21 (1875), pp. 350–91; H. Gisiger, “Theiner und die Jesuiten,” in Bilder aus der Geschichte der katholischen Reformbewegung, 1.5–6 (1875), pp. 213–314; ADB 37, pp. 674–77; LTK 10, pp. 27–28.   Half roan and green cloth over boards with marbled edges and gilt to spines, a bit rubbed and with evidence of onetime shelf-labels; offsetting from leather turn-ins visible at edges and internally on some leaves. Very minor foxing to a few leaves in vol. I, and scattered small inkstains in both volumes. Title imprint in vol. II smudged in printing.  (29409)

A Pattern for Living

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•  The authorship of the Imitation of Christ was questioned for three centuries, but scholarly consensus now favors Thomas à Kempis, leaving little or no room for such contenders as Jean Gerson. This translation from the original Latin, here in its sixth edition, is the work of a Dean of Canterbury — one of the “great preachers of his day,” according to the DNB — whose aim was to accommodate the “superstitions” of Roman Catholicism with Anglican beliefs as far as possible. The first printing of the Imitation appeared in 1473 and there followed hundreds of European editions, and versions. Stanhope's translation, with “Meditations and Prayers, for Sick Persons” added at the end, is graced withfour plates engraved by Vander Gucht: a plate at the beginning of each “book” offer “snapshots” of Jesus's life from the Adoration to the Crucifixion.

ESTC lists two editions for 1708, but apparently not this one: T165861 is listed as being a 12mo having a pagination of [2], ii, 3, [5], 271, [1], ii, 38 pp. with one plate, a frontispiece; while T92380 is an 8vo with a pagination of [12], 339, [3], 45, [1] pp., no plates noted.

•  Not in ESTC? On Stanhope, see: Dictionary of National Biography, LIV, 10–12.   18th-century calf plain style, round spine, gilt rules forming spine “compartments”; binding worn, front joint (outside) open but cover holding nicely. Title-leaf soiled and with small area of abrasion, verso with paper repair at inner margin; stain from liquid in inner margin of early leaves, light waterstaining in outer margins in a later section, and a few other stray stains, none serious; possibly lacking a frontispiece. Not a great copy but a good sound one; a classic text classically illustrated.  (32727)

An American Scots Pastor Edits “Kempis” — A Glaswegian Writes the Preface

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•  “Rendered into English from the original Latin, by John Payne. With an introductory essay, by Thomas Chalmers, of Glasgow. A new edition: edited by Howard Malcolm, Pastor of the Federal Street Baptist Church, Boston.” A Protestant edition, without the fourth “book” (i.e., chapter).

This has an engraved title-page with vignette incorporating David as harpist, and a steel-engraved frontispiece signed by J. Eddy as engraver, “W. Heath, del.”

Provenance:  Inked ownership note to blank of “Charlotte Russell / July 14th — 1831.”

•  Publisher's brown cloth shelfback with paper-covered boards; binding fragile, showing considerable wear with tears in the cloth. Foxing and age-toning; page edges lightly chipped and worn. Ex-library: call number on binding, bookplate, pressure-stamps and other identifications, pencilling. Uncut copy.  (23938)

The Soul     Thuemming, Ludwig P., praeses. Demonstratio immortalitatis animae ex intima eivs natvra dedvcta; Oder: grundlicher beweitz bon der unsterblicheit der seele... Marpvrgi: Rec. A. O. R., 1773. Small 4to.
$75.00

•  Diss. Hale (Conrad Heinrich Mensching, defendant), 1721. This edition not in NUC.

•  Removed from a bound volume.

For more 18TH-CENTURY GERMAN, LATIN LANGUAGE
LEGAL DISSERTATIONS — many on
religious subjects — click here.

NOT Apologizing for His Stance

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•  First edition.  The influential preacher John Tombes (1602–76) achieved a prime office despite his antipaedobaptist opinions. But when he published the Two Treatises in 1645, making his stanceagainst infant baptism clear, he entered into a heated debate with a number of the most prominent theologians of the day and lost his post; this is Tombes' rejoinder to attacks by Homes, Geree, Marshall, Ley, Hussey, and others.

The text is printed in roman and italic with sidenotes and a few large woodcut initials and ornaments, including an ornamental woodcut frame on the title-page.

Provenance:  Stamps on title-page verso “Mvsevm Britannicvm” and “British Museum Sale Duplicate 1787.”

•  ESTC R201072; Wing (rev. ed.), T1801.   Recent gray paper over boards, title gilt on brown leather label affixed to front cover, red edges. Ex-library: British Museum stamps as above and “Dupe” written in early ink on title-page, more recent ink stamp on bottom edge, embossed stamp on title-page and final leaf, number minutely in ink and faintly in crayon on first page of text. Paper with a few marginal chips, occasional foxing and browning (latter notable to title-page); short smudge in dark ink on first page of dedication, and a few other small stains throughout; noticeable waterstaining across upper quarter of first two quires, diminishing thereafter but not quite disappearing; mild worming to some upper inner margins.  (31059)

Printed in London — (Re-)Bound inTrenton

•  Second edition of this ambitious (if, necessarily, much-abridged) timeline of British history, originally published in 1826. Toone, who seems to have been greatly interested in the organization and summarization of information, also published The magistrate's manual, or, A summary of the duties and powers of a justice of the peace and A glossary and etymological dictionary, of obsolete and uncommon words, antiquated phrases, and proverbs illustrative of early English literature.

Binding: Mid- to late-19th-century binding, with binder’s ticket of the True American Bindery of Trenton, NJ.

•  Half morocco with marbled paper–covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped titles and blind-stamped decorative devices; edges and sides moderately rubbed with a bit of paper skinned from cover of vol. II. Most pages with some degree of foxing.  Handsome on shelf, solid in hand.  (12431)

For more SETS,  click here.

“La Gloria de la Madre de Dio en su Prodigiosa Asuncion”

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•  Our author was a well-respected orator and sermon giver, as exemplified by his having been chosen in 1804 to present the sermon at the funeral of the recently deceased bishop of Michoacan, Antonio de San Miguel Iglesias. In this sermon, also preached in Michoacan (which had no press till some time later), Torre L. discussesthe virtues of Mary and the nature of Her humility.

Publication of this piece was due to a friend, “Lo da a luz pública un amigo del orador.”

•  Garritz, I, 255; Medina, Mexico, 10120; Beristain, II, p. 174; Andrade 2393.   Modern vellum over boards, waterstaining to rear cover and small crescent of same to top margins; remnant of marca de fuego on top edge. A few faint spots, a blurred ink-note (a monogram?), and two short ink-slashes to title-page, otherwise clean and unmarked. A good copy.  (32770)

Grammar Dictionary & Religious Texts in Quichua/Quechua

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•  Interest during the Enlightenment in “the noble savage” helped to reawaken interest in the study of New World languages and that in turn resulted in some long out-of-print works of the early 17th century being reprinted or revised and reprinted.

Torres Rubio (1547–1638) was a native of Spain and a Jesuit: He arrived in Peru in 1579 and devoted himself to the study of both Aymara and Quechua, publishing an Aymara grammar in 1616 and his Quechua grammar in 1619. The latter work was reprinted in 1701 at which time Juan de Figueredo (1646–1723), another Jesuit, made some revisions and added a section, “Vocabulario de la lengua chinchaisuyo, y algunos modos mas usados de ella” being the “first work known to include a section on the grammar and vocabulary of the dialect [of Quechua] common to Lima. The earlier Quechua grammars and dictionaries were based on Quechua as spoken in Upper Peru and in and around Cuzco.” This third edition includes that added material.

In addition to the grammar and dictionary the work includes in Quechua a confessionary, the questions asked during the wedding ceremony, the Litany of Blessed Virgin Mary, and “the hymn and prayer devoted to the taking out of the Holy Scripture that is sung in various of the churches of this diocese every day.”

Provenance:  In an 18th-century hand, “Es de . . . Dn. Mariano Navia de Bolaño. On rear pastedown, “Collated perfect. May 22d / [18]94 J.J.”

•  Medina, Lima, 1068; Medina, Lenguas quechua y aymará, 39; Viñaza 336; Sabin 96271; Leclerc, Bibliotheca Americana, 2409. Not in DeBacker-Sommervogel.   Contemporary limp vellum with remnants of ties, yapp edges. Very limited, rather neat pinhole worming; occasional spots of soil and paper somewhat browned in some sections due to nature of water in manufacture; inscriptions as above and one page of the vocabulary with contemporary annotation. A very nice, crisp copy.  (28399)

“Thomas Andrews a Reputed Popish Priest SAYS MASS
Very Often at William Davids House”

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•  Hearsay after hearsay evidence of men alleged to be priests or Jesuits or who practice Roman Catholicism or seek to restore Catholicism in England.

•  Wing (rev. ed.) A120; ESTC R6638.   Removed from a nonce volume. Very good condition.  (32240)

A Big Book Documenting a Big Era

•  “Three themes dominate the period covered by this book . . . the consolidation of the new nation-states . . . religious persecution and the wars between Catholic and Protestant . . . the expansion of Europe over the whole world” (from the dust-jacket). The volume is extensively illustrated in color and black-and-white; this is a work of art reference as well as historical reference.

•  Publisher's terra-cotta cloth, front cover and spine with gilt-stamped title, corners bumped yet cloth pristine, in dust-jacket; wrapper with wear at corners and spine extremities, one short edge tear to upper front edge. Pages age-toned; clean and unmarked.  (26183)

EarlyCöthen Imprint, in Syriac

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•  Syriac in the classical Edessene literary form is still the sacred language of several Eastern Churches and is the language of this lexicon. The dialect in ancient times was spoken in the north of Syria and in Upper Mesopotamia around Edessa.

Trost (1588–1636), a professor of theology at Wittenberg, compiled this dictionary and issued it two years after publishing his much-praised edition of the Syriac New Testament with an accompanying Latin translation; the Lexicon was likewise lauded, primarily for its completeness.

This and Trost's Syriac New Testament are among the earliest books printed in Cöthen, Upper Saxony. This is the sole edition of the dictionary and it is uncommon in commerce.

•  Graesse, VII, 103; VD17 12:128565E.   Period-style calf, framed in blind; spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, blind-tooled decorations in compartments, blind- and gilt-ruled raised bands with blind-tooling continued onto boards, ending in trefoils; signed in blind on lower rear turn-in by Grace Bindings. Title-page institutionally pressure-stamped, dedication with numeral rubber-stamped in lower margin. Pages age-toned; title-page and last two index leaves with moderate staining and spotting (in part from old binding). A strong, handsome book.  (25212)

Influential Anti-Mormonism

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•  First edition.  Illustrated with a frontispiece engraving of Joseph Smith's account of taking the “Golden Bible” from Mormon Hill, and portraits of Martin Harris and Brigham Young. Pomeroy Tucker, a native of Palmyra, edited a newspaper there and knew Joseph Smith during his early years.

Includes 10 pages of publisher's advertisements.

•  Flake & Draper 9036.   Publisher's grey cloth, covers bumped at corners; spine split down middle and rebacked with black cloth tape, a small piece of which has been cut away to reveal the original gilt title. Hinge inside open in places, with pp. 3–22 and pp. 75–94 detached from binding; tiny edge nicks to fore-edge of pp. 9–16. Ex-library with bookplate on front pastedown, remnants of a paper label on rear free endpaper, and charge card and pocket on rear pastedown; pressure-stamps on title-page and other library notations on p. [3]. Text clean, with no marks or soiling; definitely “used” but a worthwhile keeper nonetheless.  (24427)

“The Earl of Castlemain Did Say Mass in His Priestly Habit,
after the Rites . . . of Rome”

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•  Turberville served as an usher to Lady Mary Molineux, daughter of the Earl of Powis, and in the earl's house met the earl's confessor, a Jesuit named William Morgan. He gives testimony against both Morgan and the earl as conspirators wishing to overthrow the government, not forgetting to note that Lady Powis has further the establishment of a nunnery as a hoped-for pet project.

•  Wing (rev. ed.) T3252; ESTC R222425.   Removed from a nonce volume. Very good condition.  (32247)

United BCP with aWestminster Abbey Fore-Edge View

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•  There were minor differences between the Prayer Books of the Church of England and the Church of Ireland up until 1801, the year that the churches merged; the various 1801 BCPs were the first to use the “United Church” designation. John Reeves had been appointed king's printer in 1800, and edited his own version of the BCP, of which this is the second edition; the separate title-page following the preliminary matter is dated 1801. (That preliminary matter, offering historical and liturgical commentary, is extensive and interesting.)

Fore-edge: This beautiful example bears a subtly shaded (and therefore hard to photograph)fore-edge painting showing Westminster Abbey in the background behind a waterfront view with sailboats.

Binding:  Full straight-grain dark olive green morocco, covers framed in elegant feather and pearl twist gilt roll, turn-ins with floral gilt roll. Stone-pattern marbled endpapers. All edges gilt.

•  Griffiths, Bibliography of the Book of Common Prayer, 1802/1.   Binding as above, mild rubbing overall with some abraded areas consolidated, joints and extremities subtly repaired, aesthetically appropriate endbands supplied. Title-page with inked ownership inscription dated 1803, “The gift of my beloved husband.” Intermittent faint spots of foxing, mostly confined to early leaves. One inked marginal annotation in an early hand, three psalms (145–47) with small inked emphasis marks, pages otherwise clean.  (28715)

Laws of Oxford

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•  18th-century edition of this collection of selected statutes of the University of Oxford, originally compiled by Thomas Crossfield of Queen's College and printed in 1638 under the title Statuta selecta è corpore statutorum Universitatis Oxon. The section Statuta Bibliothecae Bodleianae is of special interest to book people, though the notes on disturbing the peace and de nocturna Vagatione cannot but please the Latinate.

That this is a volume of “selections” is trumpeted on the title-page. However, both usefully for the seeker of context and at points confusingly for the actual reader, its table of contents seems to be not for what's present as selected but for the text in full extent — so the table announces, for example, that “Titulus XVII” comprises nine sections and lists these even unto the subsections, though the body of the book itself sets forth sections five and six only.

The title-page offers a handsome vignette of the Theatre, not one of the commonest ones.

•  ESTC T118673; Madan, Oxford Books, 17.   Period-style calf, framed and panelled in blind with blind-tooled corner fleurons and rather elaborate additional decorations in blind; spine with gilt-stamped title and publication information and different blind-tooled decorations. Endpapers a little smudged and title-page mounted, with edges darkened. Early inked ownership inscription in upper margin of first text page mostly torn away, with loss of a few words. Pp. 227–30 lacking, being the last bit of the printing of the Church of England's 39 Articles and the first part of the section, “De Eligendis Publicis Lectoribus.” Pages faintly age-toned, with occasional light spotting; mostly clean.  (25553)

The JOYS of Hard Work in aDeluxe Edition

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•  First illustrated edition of this poem — based on the lines “Raise the stone, and thou shalt find me; cleave the wood, and there am I” — about finding Christ through selfless manual labor. Printed on heavy, deckle-edged paper within wide Art Nouveau-style borders, the text is additionally decorated with mounted chromolithographed painted illustrations by Herbert Moore.

Provenance:  Front free endpaper with inked inscription reading “A Thanksgiving Appreciation to Miss Alta Anderson from the Parents and Pupils of the Emerson St. Presbyterian S.S. Nov. 28, 1917.”

Signed binding: Publisher's deep violet-blue cloth, front cover with wide gilt border of floral and vine design, spine with gilt-stamped title and fleurons. Signed “EE,” with the second E reversed: Edward B. Edwards, who also designed the interior frames.

•  Binding as above, spine slightly dimmed. Pages and plates clean. A lovely copy.  (28954)

Offering Help with theImportant & Difficult Bits

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•  “Second edition” (but really third?) of commentary on the O.T. and N.T. by Willem Hessels van Est (Gulielmus Estius, 1542–1613), who studied classics at Utrecht and religion at Louvain, and was Chancellor at the University of Douai from 1595 until his death. Famous especially for exegetical writings, as herein, “Estius's reputation became so great among later scholars that the saying . . . 'Estius on the Epistles' became proverbial.” (NCE) This edition was edited by Gaspard Dubois (Nemius, 1587–1667), whose dedication to Francis van der Burch, Archbishop of Cambrai, features hisengraved arms as a headpiece.

First published in 1617, the text is in Latin printed in roman and italic, double-column, framed on each page by a double-ruled border, with elaborate woodcut initials and head- and tailpieces, many incorporating the Jesuit “IHS” and one of thesecensored by an 18th-century hand. (Two large leaves are drawn in ink over objectionable putti parts!)

The title-page, wanting in this copy, has been transcribed by the same(?) early hand in ink on the front fly-leaf recto and verso, and the imprint information is confirmed by the colophon on the last page, which features the woodcut printer's device and the date in roman numerals.

Provenance:  An inscription on the front fly-leaf verso gives three dates, 1682–1739, and the names Fido Springhere and Philippus Coisne(?); there is a second ex-libris inscription with the name Baptista Baelde(?) at top of dedication leaf; and a final inscription, “Fido Springhere 1686" on verso of last leaf, above colophon.

Scarce: This editionnot in NUC Pre-1956, and WorldCat finds just three U.S. copies.

•  McCrank, 871. On Estius, see: NCE, V, 558.   Contemporary calf with an elaborate cartouche gilt at the center of each cover, rebacked to style with gilt-ruled raised bands and green gilt-lettered spine label; extremities repaired and new endpapers. Ex-library: old oval stamp on first page of dedication and accession number on p. 1 of text. Lacks title-leaf; various markings on verso of front endpaper; final two quires lightly creased; small marginal hole from natural paper flaw on three leaves; a few spots and smudges and one small tear, also from natural flaw. With occasionalunderlining and marginalia in Latin, seemingly by the same hand that transcribed the title and inscribed the fly-leaf.  (31112)

Waxing Philosophical onDuty, Obedience, & the Common Good

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•  First edition: The author justifies his refusal to take the oath of allegiance. Vauvilliers was a prominent Hellenist scholar and professor who, following the Revolution, became an important Parisian official.

WorldCat and NUC Pre-1956 locate only eight U.S. institutional holdings.

•  Martin & Walter 33276.   Simply stitched. Title-page with paper shelving label in lower inner corner, pencilled initials in upper outer corner. One leaf with tear from upper inner margin, touching a few letters without loss; last leaf with tear from foot along inner margin. Light to moderate foxing scattered throughout.  (30943)

“Complete” Evangelical Response tothe Whole Duty

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•  Revised edition, “carefully corrected, and divided into fifty-two chapters, one for each Lord's Day in the year” according to the title-page. The Rev. Venn (1725–97), an acclaimed preacher, wrote the Complete Duty as a response to the Whole Duty of Man, a classic devotional work but one which many eighteenth-century evangelicals felt wanting in the doctrine of justifying faith. The Complete Duty was first published in 1763 and went through numerous editions; John Henry Overton calls it “deservedly one of the most popular of all the practical and devotional works of the Evangelical school.”

Uncommon: OCLC and ESTC locate only four U.S. institutional holdings of this edition, one of which has since been deaccessioned.

Provenance: Old inked signatures of “John R. Brown,” “Tho. Smith,” and “Rev. Thos. Smith.”

•  ESTC N028205; Overton, Evangelical Revival in the Eighteenth Century, 103–04.   Contemporary treed sheep, rebacked with complementary speckled calf, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and raised bands ruled in gilt; corners and edges rubbed, sides scuffed, lower outer portion of back cover discolored. First preface page with rubber-stamped numeral, first and last text pages with institutional rubber-stamp in lower margins. Front fly-leaf, upper outer corner of title-page, and verso of title-page with inked ownership inscriptions as above. Four pages of contents bound in at back of volume. Pages age-toned, a few with light to moderate foxing; outer edge of title-page browned. A solid, in fact pleasant book.  (25929)

One of Peter Martyr'sThree Great Old Testament Commentaries
ENGLISHED   

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•  First edition in English of In librum Judicum commentarii doctissimi, Peter Martyr's commentary on the Book of Judges. The author (1499–1562) was an Italian theologian who, like Luther, began his religious life as an Augustinian friar but converted to the Protestant cause. He was closely associated on the continent with Ochino, Bucer, and some prominent Lutherans, and, while in England where he held the Regius Chair of Divinity at Oxford, was an intimate of Thomas Cranmer and Bishop Jewel. Here, among other points, he examines the natures of government and of political resistance, and debates Catholic reasoning for temporal power of the clergy.

The text is printed almost entirely in black-letter with decorative capitals.

Provenance & Evidence of Readership: Various inked annotations including ownership inscriptions and doodles by one Richard Weaver, with Weaver's inscriptions dated 1718 through 1722; a few instances of underlining and one marginal note appearing to have been done by an earlier hand — possibly an overly enthusiastic John Asterley, as one annotation reads “John Asterley not his Booke 1694.” Occasional early inked corrections, including the lining-through of what would seem to be a rather crucial“not” in one theological statement.

•  STC (rev. ed.) 24670; ESTC S117825; NCBEL, I, 1860.   Period-style morocco, spine with raised bands and gilt-stamped leather title-label; blind ruling from bands extending decoratively onto covers and these also framed in blind. Lacking six preliminary leaves and eight final (including the title-page, Day's prefatory letters, the final table, and the colophon); lower (closed) edges institutionally rubber-stamped, first page with inked numeral in lower margin, no other markings. First leaf and one other early one each with lower portion repaired some time ago not affecting text, and final leaf with portion of outer margin repaired with losses to three shouldernotes; other old and some recent repairs to margins or corners. Pages age-toned with intermittent smudges, spots, and waterstaining, none devastating; one leaf with portion of lower margin (only) torn away. One leaf slightly roughly excised between leaves 116 and 117, with both text and pagination continuous and uninterrupted regardless; one clean stub between 118 and 119. Annotations and doodles as above. The primary body of text is present andcomplete here despite losses at front and back, and offers interesting evidence of engagement (or lack thereof?) by multiple readers.  (31357)

“The Language of theAbnakis Has a Similarity to Hebrew”

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•  Elegantly bound and attractively illustrated second edition of Jesuit missionary Vetromile's “Roman Catholic prayer book, including service for mass, catechism, hymns, etc., in various dialects of the Abnaki” (Pilling); per the title-page, it was compiled “for the benefit of the Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, St. John's, Micmac, and other tribes of the Abnaki [sic] Indians. This year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven. Old-town Indian village, and Bangor.”

Illustrated witheight tinted lithographs and one engraved portrait, plus additional smaller engravings as head- and tailpieces, this offers English-language prefaces telling of the work's development and presenting rules for “reading the language,” an errata leaf, and an Abenaki title-page; aftermatter includes standard indices plus a list of names favored by the Indians in baptism and notes on the Indian calendar. In its extended and primary portions, the work is variouslyTRI-lingual in English, Abenaki, and Latin.

Binding:  Publisher's deluxe binding of black pebbled morocco elaborately tooled in blind on covers and spine. All edges gilt.

•  Pilling, Algonquian, 507; Pilling, Proof-sheets, 4006; Banks (rev. ed.), Books in Native Languages, p.2. Not in Evans, Masinahikan.   Bound as above, minimal shelfwear only. Occasional light off-setting from illustrations only. An absolutely beautiful book in a remarkably good copy.  (32277)

A Manual for Inquisitors withInterrogation Questions

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•  A theological and legal treatise on confessors and confession and the sacrament of penance with the emphasis on abuse of the confessional by priests. Telling a priest one's moral and legal transgressions empowers the weak or corrupt priest to then blackmail the parishioner for money or sex or other “favors.”

Father Vilaplana (1712–63), a native of Benimarfull, Valencia, Spain, was a Franciscan, a university lecturer in theology, and an “examiner” for the Inquisition. His handbook gives examples of abuses, lays out the pertinent canon laws and papal edicts, and has a section of questions to be asked of accused priests during court proceedings. The work also discusses punishment and other disciplines that the crimes demand.

Since abuse of the confessional fell under the authority of the Inquisition, this work is de facto a manual for Inquisitors.

This is the “Editio secunda locupletior in paucis.” The Bibliotheca Mexicana was the private press of the great bibliographer, writer, and secular cleric Juan Jose de Eguiara y Eguren.

•  Medina, Mexico, 5026; Palau 365782.   Contemporary limp vellum, rodent-gnawed along several edges with a small loss of vellum. Front endpapers with loss to silverfish. Text unwormed and clean.  (29773)

Post-Concordat

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•  Scarce sole edition of this entry in the debate over how to reconcile the constitutional clergy and the non-jurors, written following the Concordat of 1801 and the meeting of the Comité Central on 27 July 1801. WorldCat and NUC Pre-1956 locate only two U.S. institutional holdings.

•  Removed from a nonce volume, sewing loosening and signatures separating. Title-page with affixed paper shelving label in lower inner corner and pencilled monogram in upper outer corner. First few pages (including title) with spots of staining, not obscuring text.  (30809)

A Fundamental WorkHandsomely Printed

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•  The distinguished historian and bibliographer Don Guillermo Tovar de Teresa writes extensively of this work, but here we will quote only a small portion of what he says. “El Teatro Americano es una obra fundamental para todos aquellos estudiosos interesados en formarse una idea de la poblaciones de la Nueva España: su ubicación geográfica — longitud y latitud — con la descripción de los lugares circunvencinos; clima, aguas,y vegetacion; gobierno eclesiástico y civil, familias de indios, españoles y castas, templos y, sobre todo actividades económicas: comercio, ganadería, obrajes, minería, etc.”

Don Guillermo wrote that in his bibliography of works illuminating colonial Mexican art — and these two large volumes also have much to say, not noted above, about architecture, arts, sculpture, etc.!

The volumes are from the famous press of the widow of José Bernardo de Hogal, the Baskerville of Mexico, and they retain all of the fine characteristics that are associated with the Hogal name, including handsome black and red title-pages, great typography (here in double-column format), and use of good quality paper.

The author was general accountant of the Treasury's office of mercury accounting (the element was important in silver refining) and one of the most illustrious Cosmographers of New Spain. He wrote this treatise at the insistence of the viceroy, who was greatly pleased by it.

•  Sabin 99686; Medina, Mexico, 3802; Tovar de Teresa, Bibliografía novohispana de arte, II, 86/87.   Recent full dark brown calf, round spines, raised bands accented with gilt rules; green and red leather spine labels; gilt center devices. Covers with elaborate gilt roll at edges, concentric center compartments and gilt corner devices. Lacking the engraved title, only. Present are intermittent touches of limited worming and, in vol. II, the occasional old stain to a top margin's edge. This is a clean and indeedBEAUTIFUL SET.  (26378)

Radical Reformation Compilation

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•  Only edition, second issue, of volumes eight and nine from the series Bibliotheca fratrum polonorum. Exegetist Johann Ludwig von Wolzogen (ca. 1599–1658) was an Austrian nobleman who became a prominent voice among the Polish Brethren called Unitarians, proponents of Socinianism and the Radical Reformation that denied the Holy Trinity based on rational exegesis of Scripture. Their collected writings, thefirst and most important collection of Socinian documents, were clandestinely published ca. 1665–92 in ten volumes withfalse imprints to evade censors.

Like the rest of the series, these two volumes of Von Wolzogen's exegetical, didactical, and polemical works are imprinted with the date 1656, without a publisher; however it is known they were published in Amsterdam by Frans Kuyper (1629–91) and Daniel Bakkamude (1662–85), perhaps with Hendrick Boom (1657–1709), whose monogrammed printer's device appears on some of the sectional title-pages. Kuyper, a former minister, produced only Socinian works in the decade 1663–73.

The first volume contains exegesis of the Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and the second, commentary on the Acts and the epistles of Paul, Jacob, and Jude, with contributions from Wissowatius, Crellius, and Schlichtingius. The text, in Latin, printed in roman and italic, is punctuated with handsome woodcut initials, tailpieces, and woodcut devices on the sectional titles, as above.

•  Knijff & Visser, Bibliographia sociniana, 2009-2010 (for Bib. fratrum polonorum, see 2001–11); STCN/ Bock I 1017-18; NCE 13: 397–8 (Socinianism). For biographical notes on von Wolzogen and other protagonists of the movement, see Wallace: Antitrinitarian Biography.   19th-century mottled calf single-ruled in blind with gilt board edges; rebacked with gilt author, title, and tome to new red leather spine labels and blind stamps in other compartments. Edges/extremities rubbed with loss to leather and corners bumped; vol. II with cluster of wormholes to cover not reaching endpaper. One sectional title lacking in vol. I; title-page, portrait of Wolzogen, and six sectional title-pages lacking in vol. II, as above. Vol. I with one closed tear into text, two lower corners torn away, light crescent of marginal waterstaining to 50 or so late leaves; very minor worming in gutters of four leaves and marginal tear to final leaf in vol. II; each volume with moderate stain/soil marginally to leaves in some sections intermittently, and otherwise minor marginal foxing and a few other small stains only. Solid and imposing and important.  (30615)

Leaf from a RAREGolden Legend

Jacobus de Voragine. 

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•  Schönsperger's printing of the Golden Legend is rare: ISTC locates only eleven copies worldwide of which seven are reported as incomplete in one way or another. Only one copy is located in the U.S. and it too is incomplete.

Offered here is folio ccxii: Printed in a single column in Germanic roman type.

Provenance:  From the collection of leaves assembled by the Grabhorns.

•  Goff J162; Hain 9978*; Schreiber 4309; IGI 5049; GW M11369; ISTC ij00162000.   Light dust-soiling in margins. Tipped into a plain, single-ply mat. With a typed identification label on the front of the mat.  (31083)

TO Part XIV

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