Wimpheling introduces his commentary to the Hymns with prefatory comments in which he supports the contribution that training in the arts of literary expression can make to a proper understanding of religious texts. He promotes the pedagogic virtues of the hymns themselves; in particular, he notes that the diversity of meter they employ makes them apt vehicles for teaching Latin prosody while the grammatical and rhetorical skills acquired from studying them will in turn lead to a sharper, more sophisticated and more accurate reading of hymns as texts of Christian spirituality, and therefore to a deeper piety.

Hans Baldung Grien provided the title-page woodcut boarders [Oldenbourg 236] and two large historiated initials, one at the beginning of each part, respectively: the Death of the Virgins [Oldenbourg 232] and the Adoration [Oldenbourg 221].

On this important edition, see Ann Moss, “Latin Liturgical Hymns and their Early Printing History” (Humanistica Louvaniensia, XXXVI [1987], 125-28).

Provenance:  Impressed into the front board are the initals L C V of the Franciscan convent of Villigen; upon suppression of the convent, to the Donaueschigen Library, its oval stamp on the verso of the title-page; that library sold in 1994; later in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Proctor 10081; Adams L1126; VD16 S5978 & H6503; Index Aurel. 100.597; Schmidt, Knobloch, VII, 82; Ritter 5; Oldenbourg, Hans Baldung Grien, L28.   Original wooden boards, rebacked in 19th-century pigskin with old paper label and evidence of single missing clasp; provenance marks as above. Variable old water- and dampstaining, no tattering or tears, title-pages lovely.  (40642)

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 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 it containsa wealth of matter for the student of 15th-century history.

Printed in Gothic type, double-column format, with most capitals supplied in red or blue manuscript in plain style, the text here has red markings to aid in reading and navigation. Topics addressed in these volumes include sin, penance, canon law, will, original sin, privilege, lying, pride, avarice, anger, and infidelity, among several others.

Goff and ISTC find only one complete set of all volumes in American libraries — at the Countway in Boston. All other U.S. libraries, save the Newberry, report owning one or two of the volumes. The Newberry has volumes I–IV.

Provenance:  Old illegible European library stamp in lower margin of first leaf of vol. I; in 20th and early 21st century in the library of the Pacific School of Religion (properly deaccessioned).

•  ISTC ia00878000; Goff A878; BMC, I, 109; GKW 2192.   Contemporary calf over bevelled wood boards, recently rebacked and new endpapers supplied; lacks a blank and a title leaf. Leather of boards elaborately and richly tooled in blind using rolls, rules, and individual stamps of a rose, a fleur de lis, and a saint; small area of leather on front board missing and substitute leather inserted. Evidence of bass and leather clasps, remnants of vellum guide tabs. Text and boards of binding wormed, mostly with many pinhole wormholes, and text with some meandering; no great losses. Some small tears in a few margins and one lower margin with an old repair; stamp as above; browning to many margins. A good, solid volume, one with some condition issues but at the same time a good example of these productions and the era's printing.  (33734)

The text is printed in double-column format in an interesting gothic (i.e., “black letter”) type with many sidenotes and two five-line woodcut initials. An early reader has added two dainty manicules in a faded ink pointing to where God tells Moses he will fight for the children of Israel.

Provenance:  From the leaf collection of printing specimens of the Grabhorn press.

•  STC (rev. ed.) 2077; ESTC S106943; Herbert 74; Rumball-Petre 84; Copinger, Bible and its Transmission, p. 304; Luborsky & Ingram, English Illustrated Books, 1536–1603, 2077.   Housed under a black mat in a blue and white paper folder; mat with one crease, folders showing adhesive residue, leaf attached at bottom margin with a small piece of tape. Light age-toning, some staining at edges, readership markings as above. Early printing of an important passage and a handsome Biblical artifact.  (38313)

In the upper outer corner of the front pastedown is the large printed binder's label of “Henrich Miller, buchbinder, in der Ost – Dranien Strasse, gegeneuber der Lancaster.”

•  O'Callaghan 146; Shaw & Shoemaker 47206; Arndt & Eck, German Language Printing in the U.S., 2363.   Contemporary calf over wood boards, evidence of metal and leather clasp closures; leather perished, joints (outside) open, front board much loosened but holding tenuously and rear board more securely attached. Foxing and brown staining, as usual. Lacks the plate opposite the New Testament title-page. A good copy only yet stilla touching “story” and a touchstone American Bible.  (35752)

•  Keynes, Pickering, p. 81; Herbert 1868; NSTC 2W19213. Not in Kelly, Checklist of Books Published by William Pickering; not in Pickering & Chatto, William Pickering (catalogue 708). On Wycliffe, see: Dictionary of National Biography, LXIII, 202–223.   Quarter black roan in imitation of morocco and marbled paper–covered sides; rubbed with slight loss of leather and paper, corners bowed inward, front board with evidence of one-time crack (well repaired and now solid). Mild to occasional heavy foxing, with most leaves actually quite clean; light age-toning and typical offsetting from print to leaf opposite, throughout; one torn corner. Bookplate and label as above. Good to work with and a pleasure to handle.  (38823)

•  Brunet, I, 1284; VD18 90722175.   Contemporary half calf with speckled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, gilt-ruled raised bands, and gilt-stamped compartment decorations, and all edges stained red; binding rubbed and worn overall with front board showing partial split due to the weight of the substantial volume. Main title-page not present here; all letters complete and plates present. Front free endpaper with inscription as above and with early inked annotation noting “Cent. III Epist. 1–75.” Pages slightly age-toned with a very few scattered spots, overall clean.  (40186)

Binding:  19th-century quarter brown sheep in ecclesiastical style with marbled paper sides; spine blind-embossed with elements of a church (rose window, arches, leaded glass window, etc.) and with gilt ruling and tooling. All edges marbled. Binding by B. Miyar (with his ticket).

Provenance:  16th-century signature of Juan de la Torre in lower margin of main title-page.

Searches of NUC, WorldCat, and the Iberian Book Project locate only three copies of the 1519 edition in U.S. (Hispanic Society, Newberry, Huntington), no copies anywhere in the world of the 1546 (i.e., apparently a ghost), and only six U.S. copies of this 1552 (Hispanic Society, NYPL, Bancroft, Lilly, BPL, and UPenn).

•  On Castilla, see: Archivo biográfico de España, Portugal, e Iberoamérica, fiche 195, frames 158–59. Brunet, I, 1632; Graesse, II, 66 & VII, 161, note; Palau 47981; Salvá, 522; Heredia, II, 1887; Wilkinson, Iberian Books, 2921; Iberian Book Project IB 2921; Sánchez, Bibliografia aragonesa, II, 332. Not in Alden & Landis; not in Harrisse.   Binding as above; spine ends rubbed. Text lightly to moderately age-browned, with scattered foxing; small chipping to fore-edges of some leaves, small piece torn from blank outer margin of title to second part, last leaf with a closed tear, repaired. Overall a very nice copy of a scarce Spanish work of the Golden Age.  (38121)

Binding:  19th-century calf, spine with gilt-stamped title, raised bands, and small circular gilt-stamped decorations in compartments; board edges and turn-ins with gilt rolls and covers framed and panelled in blind with gilt-stamped corner fleurons. All page edges stained red, red silk placemarker present and attached. Binding done by Koehler (with his stamp on front free endpaper).

Provenance:  From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Brunet, I, 1701-02; Index aurel. 134.656; Moreau, Editions parisiennes du XVI siecle, III, 1158. This ed. not in Adams or Mortimer, French 16th-Century Books.   Bound as above, spine and edges rubbed, sides scuffed. Endpapers with pencilled annotations and with binder's small rubber-stamp as above; title-page with date faintly inked in an early hand. Final leaf (printer's vignette) in facsimile, title-page with lower outer corner with small loss of paper in blank area repaired via excellent leaf-casting, and a similar excellent leaf-cast repair to two inner areas of last text leaf with a few letters supplied in pen and ink facsimile. One leaf with small printing flaw affecting a handful of words without loss of sense; three leaves at back with small semi-circular areas of worming touching a few letters, also without loss of sense. Pages very clean and type very clear. A scarce and desirable volume.  (37747)

Provenance:   Elegant old lozenge-shaped ink-stamp on title-pages: “John Brymer Heir-Loom.”

Provenance:  Front free endpaper with small stamp of B[asil] M. Pickering, who took over the business after his father's death; later in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Brunet, I, 1108; Griffiths, Bibliography of the Book of Common Prayer, 1844:29; Kelly, Checklist of Books Published by William Pickering, 1844.4; Keynes, William Pickering (rev. ed.), p. 85; McLean, Victorian Book Design, 13; Pickering & Chatto, William Pickering (catalogue 708), 222.   Bound as above, joints and extremities showing moderate rubbing. Scattered spots of faint to mild foxing, pages generally clean and fresh.  (39585)

Evidence of Readership: Pencilled marks of emphasis in margins, and occasional early inked marginalia in Latin; final leaf with early inked verses on each side: “Oenigma de Collogino” and “Epigraphium Tilonis Ditmarri [sic] civis Goslariani [sic].”

Provenance:  Front pastedown with armorial bookplate of the Earl of Mexborough, with motto “Be fast.” Later in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Adams P390; Barbier, IV, 1338; Brunet, IV, 410; Index Aurel. 148.564; VD16 C6433.   Binding as above, extremities showing mild shelfwear. Bookplates as above; front free endpaper with old cataloguing for this copy affixed, front fly-leaf with early inked note (“très rare”) and ownership inscription (in a different hand), possibly “Wright.” Intermittent staining, mostly but not entirely confined to early portion of volume. A solid, attractive, and intriguing copy, hand-embellished and in a signed binding.  (37912)

Provenance:  Front cover gilt-stamped M.K./S.W.M./1828. Front fly-leaf with attractively inked presentation inscription in German, signed Sophie Wiedemann in Lobitz and dated 1828, above additional inscriptions dated 1879, 1886, and 1938, the latter in English; back fly-leaf with inked prayer in Wiedemann's hand, above a later inked prayer in English, dated 1984.

Binding:  Contemporary varnished red paper, covers framed in gilt roll, covers and spine with floral designs painted in shades of pink, green, and yellow., front cover with gilt-stamping as above. All edges gilt, and gauffered at corners and at the spine. Pastedowns of light blue and red paste-paper.

The binding is highly reminiscent of a “peasant” binding, but clearly is not one as these are generally understood: It is not vellum, not embossed; but yes, it is definitely handpainted and folk-art inspired. A variant.

•  Binding as above, edges and extremities rubbed, spine faded with paper chipped at joints, head, and foot, partially exposing binding structure, front joint cracked. Free endpapers lacking; fly-leaves with inscriptions as above. Sewing loosening, with some signatures slightly proud and others just starting to separate. A few instances of dried plant matter laid in, including three four-leaf clovers. Occasional spots of minor foxing; one small ink stain affecting two leaves but not obscuring text. Some corners bumped. A multi-generational heirloom devotional, still lovely, and a very appealing example of such.  (29894)

woman

Printed mostly in roman type with some italic, this has headings in gothic andsome long passages also in gothic.

Provenance:  18th-century ownership signatures at top of main title-page of J.W. Tarleton and J. Skynner (both lined through), and 19th-century signature of Wm. Saunders. Oldham Free Public Library (Lancs.) stamp on verso of same.

•  ESTC T136807; Sweet & Maxwell 12.Ia.6 and 12.Ia.10.   Late 20th-century quarter brown calf with brown stone-pattern marbled paper sides; all edges gilt. Slim waterstain in upper margin of last four leaves; same leaves foxed. Overall a very good copy.  (34007)

Provenance:  From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) on rear free endpaper.

•  Adams G1187; Index Aurel. 104.188; Moreau, Éditions parisiennes du XVI siècle, II, 1360. On Gregory, see: Holweck, Biographical Dictionary of the Saints, pp. 446–7; our quotation is from this source.   Modern boards covered in a 16th-century leaf from a biblical index with accents in red, new endpapers; booklabel as above. Light age-toning with a handful of marginal stains, one red; uneven edges (probably from manufacture), one small wormhole touching letters throughout most of text with two additional near the end. Title-page and final leaf have been attached to stubs for binding; five other leaves with small, early marginal repairs. A neatly printed book with many embellishments; a very attractive thing of its kind.  (39284)

Provenance:  Rolle family armorial bookplate.

•  ESTC R10688; Wing (rev.) H1578; Allibone 813.   Contemporary sheep, covers framed in blind double fillets; leather rubbed and scuffed, partially cracked along front joint. All edges marbled. Pastedowns peeled up, front pastedown with early inked inscription; inside front cover with armorial bookplate. Title-page with inked numeral in upper outer corner. (21012)

Printed largely in black letter and each act preceded by its own title-page.

•  ESTC T193918.   Near-contemporary brown calf, rebacked in caramel-colored calf with a red leather gilt title-label; modestly tooled in gilt on covers with a double-rule and a center rope rectangle with flower corner devices, gilt rolls on board edges. Some cockling of paper and discoloration of endpapers (from the tannin of the turn-ins, and occasional marginal thumb- or other soil from use.  (34488)

However harsh the allegations, the Quakers were not Leslie's sole target; he also wrote works against deism, Judaism, Catholicism, Socinianism, and more, not to mention his numerous writings against various political parties.

Sabin's entry for this Americanum has this bizarre and amusing note: “It gives a long account of the 'Fourth or New Quakers who mostly reside in Long Island and East Jersey, in America,' one of whom wasMary Ross, who went to meeting stark naked, and carrying a fiddle.”

The text here is in a rather striking mix of roman, italic, and large black letter.

Provenance:  The Howell Bible Collection, Pacific School of Religion (properly released), with bookplate tucked into front cover.

•  Sabin 40195; ESTC R216663; Wing (rev. ed.) L1156; Smith, Anti-Quakeriana, 267; on Leslie, see: DNB (online).   17th-century speckled calf, Cambridge-style, spine gilt-lettered with two labels, bands accented and covers panelled in blind; rebacked with new endpapers; abraded, edges worn. Moderate age-toning and foxing, a handful of leaves with rounded corners or chipped edges. Ex-library with its rubber-stamp on title-page and one leaf of text, five-digit number on title-page verso; light pencilling on title-page.  (36371)

Provenance:  Ownership inscription of Bryan Tompson, 1735 (fol. 166r); also on A2r, undated, family name spelled “Thompson” and with notation of cost of book as 5/3. Late 19th- or early 20-century ownership inscription on front free endpaper of G.P. Hesketh, of Beltrami Cty., MN; later given (1907) to Dr. Charles Schwartz.

•  ESTC S108962; STC (rev. ed.) 16973.   18th-century English speckled sheep, recently rebacked; late 19th- or early 20th-century endpapers. Title-page cut down close to text (supplied from a different copy?), mounted to restore page size and expose type on verso; leaf soiled. Top margins throughout closely cropped, costing the top line of text on five of the eight preliminary pages and the running heads and folio numbers on many (not all) text leaves; staining in portions in margins and sometimes into the text of the upper outer sixth of a leaf; longitudinal hole on fols. 259 to 262 costing three words total. Not a perfect, but a decent copy of a Lutheran mainstay in an edition not often found on the market.  (34166)

Provenance:  Front pastedown with bookplate of Brian Douglas Stilwell, front free endpaper with bookplate of Robert Wayne Stilwell.

Searches of NUC and WorldCat locate only eight U.S. libraries reporting ownership (Providence Public, NYPL, UCLA, University of California-Irvine, HRC, Bridwell, Pierpont Morgan).

•  Brooks 805; De Lama, II, 142; Giani 135 (p. 65).   Later half green morocco and marbled paper–covered boards, spine lettered in gilt; minimal shelfwear to lower edges only. Front pastedown with pencilled reference annotations. A few small spots of staining; two pages with faint area of offsetting from now-absent laid-in item; pages crisp and clean overall. A marvelous polyglot, of much interest both textually and typographically, in a very attractive copy. (40184)

“Nicholls died on the continent in want and, probably, depression, most likely in 1584. He has been condemned by biographers for his want of constancy in what are assumed to be genuine, if bewildering, changes of faith and profession. Yet it may have been the case that there was a kind of cynical consistency in his animal sense of self-preservation, one actively encouraged by the systems of religious repression and polarization under which he managed for a while to operate with some success” (ODNB). He was clearly one of the most troubled figures in the history of Recusancy.

This copy of his Declaration has setting 2 of the title-page, setting 1 of leaf N1r, and setting 1 of L1r (see ESTC). The title-page has a handsome, elaborate woodcut frame/border in a typical “Barker” style; the prefatory “epistola” is printed in italics, the preface in roman, and the text in gothic (i.e., black letter).

Searches of NUC, WorldCat, and ESTC locate only seven U.S. libraries reporting ownership of this, not one a Catholic institution.

Binding:  Signed binding by Bedford. Full sprinkled calf, round spine, raised bands, gilt spine extra. Gilt triple-rule border on both boards; gilt double-rule on board edges; gilt turn-ins including a gilt dentelle rule and a gilt floral vine roll. Red French swirl marbled endpapers. All edges gilt.

•  STC (rev. ed.) 18533; ESTC S113205; Franks 6551. Apparently beyond the scope of Allison & Rogers (rev. ed.).   Excellent 19th-century binding as above, lightly rubbed along the joints (outside). Very good.  (37208)

•  Arndt & Eck 762; ESTC W5504; Evans 22858 & 22493.   Contemporary mottled sheep with remnants of original clasp, rebacked quite some time ago with calf, spine with gilt-stamped leather title and publication labels; original leather edges rubbed, spine leather with cracks, spine extremities chipped, joints expertly strengthened and hinges (inside) reinforced. Pages age-toned; first and last few leaves waterstained, scattered staining elsewhere. One leaf with small hole, just barely touching one character without loss.  (27903)

•  19th-century cream paper–covered boards with handwritten spine labels of paper, all edges speckled red; well rubbed with some loss of paper, dust-soiled especially to spines and top edges. Ex–seminary library with remnants of spine labels, bookplates on front pastedowns and a fly-leaf, small inking on endpapers, and light pencilling to title-page versos and one leaf of text. Light age-toning, with pinprick wormhole affecting margins or parts of letters (but not sense) in several gatherings, wormtracking on inner margins of a few others; a few paper flaws, small spots or stains, two repairs, one marginal tear with paper loss, another small marginal hole, two leaves with inked notes. In fact a nice old trio.  (37076)

Attributed to Luke Shepherd by Halkett and Laing, this is a satirical poem, a dialogue in verse, on the Eucharist, and could even be seen as a short play. It is printed in gothic (black letter) type witha large woodcut of a procession of the Eucharist on the title-page.

None of the copies reported to WorldCat, COPAC, or NUC are described as printed on vellum. The copy that Alston found at the British Library is not findable via the BL OPAC.

Provenance:  Early 19th-century manuscript ownership on front fly-leaf: “Thomas Briggs Esq., Edgeware Road.” Most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Alston, Books Printed on Vellum in the Collections of the British Library, p. 35; Halkett & Laing (2nd ed.), III, p. 192; Halkett & Laing (3rd ed.), J21 (var.) l NSTC, I, S1667.   Original dun colored boards with beige linen shelfback; rebacked, and binding discolored. “25 copies Printed on chosen Parchment” written in ink in an early 19th-century hand in lower margin of the title-page. Foxing, heaviest on last three leaves; last page (a publisher's note and colophon) lightly inked and so a little faint. A nice find for the collector of printing on vellum, letterpress facsimiles, or reprints of rare 16th-century English tracts.  (34699)

Provenance:   From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Halkett & Laing (2nd ed.), III, p. 192; Halkett & Laing (3rd ed.), J21 (var.) l; NSTC, I, S1667.   Original dun-colored boards; discolored with abrading along board edges and joints (outside). Foxing to blank pages and lesserly to text; stock of the text pages tan. A classic 19th-century production.  (39519)

•  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)