Binding:  Publisher's quarter leather with marbled paper sides, with paper worn and exposing the underlying boards which are pasted layers of printer's waste made into boards. An excellent teaching tool.

•  Grajales & Burrus 291; Medina, Mexico, 8686; Palau 45601.   Binding as above and definitely worn; pieces of leather missing at top of spine. Internally very good anda very good impression of the plate.  (31218)

This leaf comes from a Books of Hours, a prayer book with eight sections corresponding to different times of day, more or less personalized depending on the owner's tastes and social class; illuminated Books of Hours signaled the owner's status — the more sophisticated the decoration, the more devout the patron (and the more money spent). Although contents vary, all Books of Hours contain the Hours of the Virgin, as well as a calendar and selection of psalms.

•  Soft, white vellum with gilt edges, housed in a cardboard and mylar folder. One (unobtrusive) thin cut in middle of leaf touching text and painted border, a little smudged, else infine condition and supporting/deserving double-glazed framing if framing is wanted.  (30938)

This leaf comes from a Books of Hours, a prayer book as described above.

•  Soft, white vellum, red edges, lightly soiled; tiny nicks (as usual) on one edge of the leaf where it was sometime detached from previous sewing, preserving margin except for one lower corner where a bit of vellum was cut away or naturally lacking. Very charming.  (30810)

•  Not in Weale & Bohatta.   Bindings as above, edges and extremities rubbed, spine leather with tiny cracks, one spine head chipped, one joint starting. Ex-library with bookplates, rubber-stamp on lower edges of pages of the closed volumes. One volume with text block separating from spine and sewing loosening; this with the most leather rubbed away and the darkest instances of the usually-light waterstaining and spots of foxing seen occasionally throughout. Endpapers bear early inked ownership inscriptions and annotations. An elegant quartet.  (12406)

WorldCat locates only four copies in the U.S., but we know of one other.

•  Medina, Mexico, 8973.   Sewn as issued with original plain wrappers and with later green marbled wrappers. One pin hole from front to rear occasionally affecting one letter.  (27224)

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

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

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

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

The title-page has an engraving of angels before a monstrance, two with censers. The masses begin with a small charming woodcut initial, and the major feasts and the Canon are each preceded by a full-page engraving, some of which are signed by Iottain: these are the Annunciation (First Sunday of Advent), Nativity of our Lord, Adoration of the Magi (Epiphany), Crucifixion (Canon), Risen Christ (Easter Day), Ascension, Pentecost, Last Supper (Corpus Christi), Assumption, and All Saints. There are more than 50 pp. of music, including the Exsultet and the prefaces, printed with black square notes on a red four line staff, as usual.

Provenance: On the title-page below the engraved vignette is the following inscription: “Pro Monasterio B.M.V. in Plass S.O.Cist comparavit R[everendissimus] D[ominus] Benedict Engelken loci abbas . . . Anno D[omin]i 1673.” Plass or Plasy is a Cistercian abbey (now redundant) in western Bohemia, founded ca. 1144. On the verso of second front flyleaf is inscribed in ink “Sacristiæ S. Thomæ a 1 Julii 1804.”

•  Mottled calf with remnants of sumptuous gilt; rebacked, leather with holes for hardware not present; stained and peeling in places. Leaves in good condition for a missal; some paper repairs in margins with loss of rules, a few small holes in bottom margins, expected soiling on most used pages and some in margins elsewhere, no obscured or lost text. Marbled endpapers. Vellum tabs for leaves of canon. Six silk placemarkers attached to a red and green silk headband (not part of binding). All edges gauffered and gilt.

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

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

In this constitution, Benedict XIV (who was known as a very pastoral pope) says that he has heard that nuns are not making full confessions because of the intimate nature of some transgressions and the fact that each convent is assigned only one permanent confessor.

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

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

Uncommon.  OCLC and NUC Pre-1956 locate only three copies in the U.S.

•  Medina, Mexico, 8711.   Contemporary vellum over paste boards of printer's waste, vellum cockled and that of the front cover lightly rodent-gnawed at board edges. Worming in text, some of which is meander type, costing letters. Not a great copy, but given the scarcity, an acceptable one.  (24103)

In the Politica peculiar Cevallos reveals Napoleon’s attitude toward the Church, and his desire, if he could not absolutely destroy Catholicism, at least to bring it under thorough state subjection.

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

Throughout his life Challoner “labored to save Catholicism in England from extinction; his writings and preachings served to strengthen the faith of the Catholic minority . . .” (New Catholic Encyclopedia, 438). His readable, revised edition of the Douay–Rheims Bible (1749–52) served as the English Catholic standard until quite recently.

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

•  Parsons 461; Shaw & Shoemaker 31112. On Challoner, see: New Catholic Encyclopedia, III, 437–438.   Contemporary treed sheep, spine with chipped, gilt-stamped red leather title-label; binding abraded, covers a bit sprung, spine with paper shelving label and some cracking of leather. Title-page and one other stamped as described above; pages age-toned. A “decent” copy.  (5306)

This particular copy seems to have incurred someone’s personal wrath, as the plate illustrating the allegory of Wisdom has had its central (nude) female figure excised.

•  Contemporary mottled calf framed in triple gilt fillets, spine gilt extra, all page edges marbled; binding with expectable acid-pitting and minor cracking of the leather over the spine and joints. One (and only one) signature foxed, leaves otherwise clean. A handsome book, defaced in a way that is depressing but also interesting.

Both works are printed in roman type with large woodcut initials featuring cherubs and each has its title-page printed in black and red. The Examen is divided into two parts, each with its own collation and pagination, with the second part being “Sanctae romanae ecclesiae bibliothecariorum catalogus, iuxta chronologicum ordinem. . . .”

Evidence of readership.  In the first part of the Examen an early reader has underlined in sepia ink passages or phrases s/he found significant but added no marginalia.

•  Contemporary vellum. Bookplate removed from front pastedown. Very good copies of both titles.

The second work is Peter Martyr's commentaries on Corinthians, here in the second edition. It has a full-page woodcut portrait of him on the recto of leaf aa6. The printer's woodcut device is on the title-page and there are numerous woodcut initials. The sidenotes are printed in italic while the text proper is in roman.

Peter Martyr (8 September 1499 – 12 November 1562), was an Italian theologian who began his religious life as an Augustinian friar, converted to the Protestant cause, 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.

Both works are uncommon in these editions in the U.S.: We locate four copies of the first title and two of the Vermigli, but one copy of each title has been deaccessioned, meaning current holdings are three and one only.

Binding:  Contemporary alum-tawed pig over wooden boards with bevelled edges and metal and leather clasps; one clasp perished. Leather tooled elaborately in blind using a variety of rolls and fillets, including one roll incorporating the date 1546, a medallion of David and his harp, and another medallion depicting John the Baptist with the words below the image, “Ecce Agnus Dei.”

•  Clement: VD16 C4070; Index Aurel. 104.903; Adams C2106. Vermigli: VD16 B5054; Adams M788.   Bound as above. Ex-library with bookplate on front pastedown, small blind pressure- (not perf-.) stamp on title-page and remnant of charge pocket at rear; six-digit number stamped in lower margin of one leaf. Early inked ownership indicia on title-page and old private ownership stamp on front free endpaper; a little old marginalia and underlining. A very little foxing and the odd spot only. Excellent copies of both works in a handsome contemporary binding.  (24827)

Provenance: A copy of this work was given to each member upon admission and the last page of this copy indicates that it belonged to Joaquín Gorospe who was admitted to membership on 20 April 1803.

Uncommon: No U.S. library reports owning this edition.

•  Medina, Mexico, 9488.   Lacking the wrappers. Soiling to title-page and verso of last leaf. A few age spots.  (26871)

•  Martin & Walter 5106.   Sewn, never bound; title-page with affixed paper shelving label in lower inner corner, not touching text, and with pencilled monogram in upper outer corner. Page edges untrimmed. Lacking center signature (pp. 17–24: end of article IV, beginning of article V). Pages gently age-toned, otherwise very crisp and clean.  (30698)

Binding: Publisher's green cloth, front cover and spine stamped in gilt; cover with handsome vignette of “Holy-Cross Abbey” seen from across the water.

Provenance:  Gift inscription of Christmas, 1892; C.J. O'Callaghan to Thomas F. Donahue. 20th-century bookplates of Francis Massey O'Brien (Portland, Maine), bibliophile and bookseller.

Evidence of readership: O'Brien's extensive notes on the blank endpapers and fly-leaves.

•  Bound as above; spine faded. Interior clean. A good ++ copy.  (30065)

Other works by Corvinus († ca. 1680) include Iurisprudentiae Romanae Summarium, and Ius Feudale.

•  Willems 1301.   Contemporary vellum, soiled; two small pieces of spine vellum missing. Engraved title-page starting to loosen; pages generally clean.  (30089)

The text is in Latin, printed in roman and italic, enlivened by handsome woodcut initials of various design and size; the printer's large device of a three-headed Hermes holding a caduceus appears on both the title-page and final verso. Printer Hervagius (Johann Herwagen, 1497– ca. 1558) moved to Basel from Strasbourg in 1528 to marry the widow of Johann Froben and take part in Froben's famous printing firm there; in 1531, he established his own press at the Nadelberg, Froben's house and the former residence of Erasmus. Some of the first products of Herwagen's press were works by Erasmus, who also edited the present text for the first edition by Froben in 1520.

Provenance:  Contemporary ink monogram JCP expanded to “Joh: Chr: Pychey”(?) on title-page.

•  VD16 C-6516; Index Aurel. 149.099; Adams C3160; Vander Haeghen, II, 24; BM STC 234; NCE, IV, 564–66 (Cyprian). On Herwagen, see: Contemporaries of Erasmus.   Recent full black morocco ruled in blind, old style; raised bands accented with blind ruling, title gilt on red morocco spine label and date gilt collector-style at spine base. Title-page dust-soiled and expertly repaired in upper outer corner away from print. Glue stains on title-page verso from former bookplate; occasional very minor foxing, and light dampstaining in bottom margin of some leaves. A few small inkstains from same pen as sparse contemporary marginalia and underlining. A handsome, handsome volume.  (31540)