WORLDWIDE CATHOLICA
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One of the Great Catholic Leaders of His Day — A Polish Statesman & Revered Bishop
Hosius, Stanislaus. Opera omnia hactenus edita, in unum corpus collecta, ac nuperrimè ab ipso auctore recognita, & supra omnes alias editiones aucta, cura & opera Alemanii Fini Cremensis excusa. Adiunctae sunt praetereà Recantationes Fabiani Quadrantini, Braunsbergae in collegio societatis Iesu recitatae. Saluo in omnibus sanctae sedis Apostolicae iudicio. Venetiis: Apud Dominicum Nicolinum, 1573. Folio (33.3 cm, 13.11"). [24] pp., 193, [2], [194]–365, [13] ff.
$700.00
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Uncommon Venetian edition (and the first from this editor) of the collected works of Cardinal Hosius (1504–79), Prince-Bishop of Ermland (Warmia), an illustrious Polish statesman as well as a candidate for canonization. According to Peter Canisius (as quoted by the Catholic Encyclopedia) Hosius was “the most brilliant writer, the most eminent theologian and the best bishop of his times.”
Hosius's Opera omnia was first published in 1562, and first printed in this version edited by Alemanio Fino in Venice in 1573 by Domenico Nicolini da Sabbio; it appeared in two variants in that year, one bearing Francesco de Francesci's imprint and the other — as seen here — Nicolini's own, with
a title-page vignette of a winged woman with laurel wreath and palm branch, giving his “Nisi qui legitime certaverit” motto. The Confutatio prolegomenon Brentii, De expresso Dei verbo, and Palinodiae sive recantationes Fabiani Quadrantini have separate title-pages, and the registrum at the back bears the same printer's vignette.
A search of WorldCat finds
no holdings of this edition reported by U.S. institutions.
Provenance: Title-page with early inked inscription reading “Carthusia Romanas” and with rubber-stamp of Carthusian monastery St. Hugh's, Parkminster.
Adams H1024; CNCE 22786. This ed. not in Brunet. 19th-century quarter tan sheep and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped black leather title-label; rubbed, leather with spots of staining and small insect holes, hinges (inside) cracked but holding strongly. Title-page with inscription and stamp as above, and with additional indecipherable (19th-century?) rubber-stamp; a scattering of shouldernotes and text corrections inked in an early hand. One leaf with upper outer corner torn away, with loss of a few letters; one leaf with small burn holes in outer margin, touching one shouldernote; most leaves clean, with intermittent, widely varying foxing, some leaves browned.
A sturdy, well-produced, and worthwhile volume NOT generally available. (41278)
Skepticism from an
Ecclesiastical Savant
Huet, Pierre-Daniel. Pet. Dan. Huetii episcopi Abrincensis De imbecillitate mentis humanae libri tres. Amstelodami: Apud H. Du Sauzet, 1738. 12mo (17 cm, 6.75"). xxxviii, [10], 223, [1] pp. (frontis. lacking).
$800.00
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First edition: Latin translation of Huet's Traité philosophique de la faiblesse de l'esprit humain, which had been published in 1723. Much lauded as a scholar, scientist, antiquarian, and author, the Bishop of Avranches was also a philosopher who published an extensive critique of Descartes's writings. The present work was his last, and published posthumously; in it, he describes the failings of human reason and logic and argues that skepticism enables faith-based religion. In addition to being one of Huet's best-known philosophical statements, the Traité philosophique is
of medical interest for the author's theory of the nature of the mind. The title-page is printed in red and black, bearing an elegant engraved vignette of a printer's shop done by B. Picart.
Recent quarter calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title and author labels. Frontispiece lacking and pages showing light cockling; clean and attractive. (21114)

An ILLUMINATED Remembrance of Heaven — Unrecorded?
(Illuminated Meditations). Souvenir. Paris: Debost & Desmottes, [ca. 1845]. 12mo (13.7 cm, 5.39"). [30] pp.; 1 col. plt., illus.
[SOLD]
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Medievally inspired: Reflections on heaven, with the text set in blackletter and
each leaf featuring a different chromolithographed, illuminated sidepiece. This little curiosity — unrecorded by WorldCat so far as can be determined — appears to have been intended by its French publishers for English-speaking Catholics; while the frontispiece is captioned in French, the rest of the text is in English, with many of the quotations taken from St. Augustine. The presumed title comes from the front cover of this otherwise untitled, undated production.
Provenance: From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Publisher's red cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped title and decorative arabesque frame within blind-stamped frame, back cover with blind-stamped frame; binding very slightly cocked with dust-soiling to sides, spine and extremities rubbed. All edges gilt. Pages gently age-toned, otherwise a copy clean and crisp, with all guard leaves present.
Unusual and extremely attractive. (41170)
Death of a Grand Inquisitor
(Inquisition). Solemnes exequias celebradas en la Santa Iglesia de Salamanca y Real Seminario de San Carlos en la translacion del cadaver del excmo. sr. don Felipe Bertran, obispo de Salmanca, inquisidor general caballero prelado gran cruz de la real y distinguida orden española de Carlos III. Mexico: Imp. del Br. Don Joseph Fernandez Jauregui, 1791. 4to (20.5 cm; 8.135"). [9] ff., xlvi, xxvi pp., [2] ff.
$650.00
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Sole Mexican edition of the official account of the funeral and ceremonies on the death of Bishop Felipe Bertran, the Inquisitor General of Spain.
WorldCat locates only six U.S. libraries reporting ownership.
Medina, Mexico, 8139; Palau 317550. Original plain wrappers, front one lacking. Light dust-soiling. Very good copy. (28210)

An Account of the Murder of St. Peter Martyr
(The Fast-Tracked Saint)
From the First Printer in Ulm
Jacobus de Voragine. One leaf from the Legenda aurea sanctorum, sive Lombardica historia. Ulm: Johann Zainer, [not after 1478]. Chancery folio (27.5 x 19.5 cm, 10.75" x 7.5"). 1 leaf.
$450.00
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Saint Peter of Verona, O.P. (1206 – 6 April 1252), a.k.a. Saint Peter Martyr, was a Dominican friar and a celebrated preacher who was assassinated on the road from Como to Milan by a man hired by a group of Milanese Cathars (i.e., members of a Gnostic revival movement). He was canonized eleven months after his death, the swiftest canonization in history.
The incunable leaf offered here contains the account of his murder. It was printed in single-column format in an interesting gothic font by the famous early printer Johann Zainer, the first printer to set up shop in Ulm.
Provenance: From the collection of leaves assembled by the Grabhorn Press (1920–65), for their reference library.
ISTC No.ij00091000; Goff J91; GKW M11319. Disbound. Numeral “53" in lower outside corner of the recto. Nice margins, and very clean. (40788)

St. John the Less — Low German — 1485
Jacobus de Voragine. One leaf from Dat duytsche Passionae, i.e., Legenda aurea sanctorum, sive Lombardica historia in Low German. Cologne: Ludwig von Renchen, 1485. Chancery folio (26 x 17 cm, 10.25 x 7.5"). 1 leaf.
$300.00
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St. John the Less, one of the Twelve Apostles, was stoned to death when preaching in Jerusalem. On this incunable leaf, in a Low German translation from Jacobus' original Latin, are the first two pages of three of the saint's life. It is printed in double-column format in a gothic font with one large rubricated initial “I” and “guide” rubrication at the beginning of each sentence.
Provenance: From the collection of leaves assembled by the Grabhorn Press (1920–65), for their reference library.
ISTC No.ij00171000; Goff J171; GW M11405; Proctor 1262–63; Copinger 4626. Disbound, inner margin slightly irregular and discolored from glue; dust-soiled. Else, very good — indeed, quite handsome. (40785)

An English Incunable Leaf — Wynkyn de Worde, 1498
Jacobus de Voragine. Golden legend [single leaf]. [Westmynster: Wynkyn de Worde, 1498]. Chancery folio (27.3 x 19.5 cm; 10.75" x 7.675"). [1] f.
$1650.00
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The collection of saints' lives called the Legenda sanctorum, or Golden Legend (Legenda aurea) — “worth its weight in gold”! — was composed in the 13th century by the Dominican hagiologist Jacobus de Voragine (ca. 1230–98, elected Archbishop of Genoa in 1292), and first printed in Latin at Basle in 1470 with William Caxton printing the first English version in 1483. This is folio ccxlviii of the 1498 London (Westminster) edition
printed by Wynkyn de Worde (a.k.a., Jan van Wynkyn), England's first typographer and successor to Caxton, whose press he formally took over in 1495 after a difficult three years of litigation following Caxton's death.
This leaf of The Golden Legend has on its recto, and continuing on the verso, the final portion of account of the nativity of the Virgin, which recounts episodes from her mature adulthood and
shows the Mother of God as a powerful figure with a powerful sense of what is due her. She promises death within 30 days to a bishop who has removed from office an unsatisfactory priest that she appreciates as specially devoted to her (he is reinstated and the bishop lives); she intercedes in another vision with her “debonayre sone” to reverse the damnation of a “vayne and ryotous” cleric who, on the other hand, has been specially devoted to her and her Hours (he reforms). In a third case, she redeems from the grasp of hell a bishop's vicar who, disappointed of promotion in office, had engaged “a Jewe [who was] a magycyan” to facilitate his signing in his own blood a soul-sacrificing deal with “the devyll” (the vicar repented). The Marian section closes with an account of “Saynt Jherom's” devotion to her. All this is followed on the verso by the beginning of the life of St. Adrian of Nicomedia, who before his conversion to Christianity and subsequent martyrdom was a Herculian Guard of the Roman Emperor Galerius Maximian. He is the patron saint of soldiers, arms dealers, guards, butchers, victims of the plague, and epileptics. The text is printed in double-column format in
English gothic type.
Provenance: From an offering of leaves from this edition of The Golden Legend by the Dauber & Pine Bookshops, New York City, in ca. 1928 .
English incunable leaves are increasingly difficult to obtain.
STC (rev. ed.) 24876; ESTC S103597; Duff 411; Copinger 6475; Goff J-151; ISTC ij00151000. Removed neatly from a bound volume. With a “cover leaf” in approximation
of a title-page, reading “The Golden Legende. J. de Voragine. Printed by Wynkyn de Worde 1498. Dauber & Pine Bookshops, Inc. New York.”
A striking relic recounting multiple miracles and presenting Mary as a most interesting personality. (40744)

Armelle Nicolas in Philadelphia — An Early American Catholicum
Jeanne de la Nativité. Daily conversation with God, exemplified in the holy life of Armelle Nicolas, a poor ignorant country maid in France, commonly known by the name of the good Armelle, deceas’d in Bretaigne in the year 1671. Philadelphia: Reprinted by Henry Miller, 1767. 8vo (16.3 cm, 6.375"). 16, [2] pp.
$500.00
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An early American religious tract that tells the story of French maid Armelle Nicolas and her “child-like, hearty, and confident conversing with God as her only love, her father, and intimate friend.” This short English work was translated from a section of the 1704 French work “L'école du pur amour de Dieu” in the hopes that “some able pen or other” might be inspired to translate the entirety of the humbly pious woman's story into English.
WorldCat records suggest this could have been
a tract printed for Anthony Benezet (1713–84), a French-born educator and abolitionist who immigrated to Philadelphia.
Evans 10659; Hildeburn, Pennsylvania, 2289; Parsons 21. In modern tan wrappers; faint stain to front one. Leaves age-toned with some foxing, tip of one leaf corner torn away, tiny stain to bottom edge of leaves.
A small, neat product of earnest Philadelphia. (39894)

The FIRST Work of Systematic Theology in EASTERN CHRISTIANITY
John, of Damascus, Saint (Joannis Damasceni). [five lines in Greek, romanized as] Ioannou tou Damaskenou Ekdosis tes orthodoxou pisteos. Tou autou peri ton en pistei kekoimemenon. [then in Latin] Ioannis Damasceni editio Orthodoxae fidei. Eiusdem de iis, qui in fide dormierunt. Veronae: [Apud Stephanum et fratres Sabios], 1531. 4to in 8s (21.5 cm, 8.375"). [8], 150, [4] ff.
$3000.00
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John, of Damascus (ca. 675–749), is a Doctor of the Church and was a polymath. His contributions were in the fields of law, theology, philosophy, and music; and it is thought that he may well have served as a chief administrator to the Muslim caliph of Damascus before his ordination.
His Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, present here in an edition in the original Greek edited by Bernardino Donato (1483–1543, a Humanist, philologist, Hellenist, and grammarian) is an 8th-century treatise that is
the first work of systematic theology in Eastern Christianity and an important influence on later Scholastic works. Among the numerous topics and concerns it treats are things utterable and things unutterable, things knowable and things unknowable, prescience and predestination. the reason God with foreknowledge created persons who would sin and not repent, natural and innocent passions, and the honor due to the saints and their remains.
The text is in Greek, preface in Latin. The title-page gives the place and date of printing but the other imprint data is from the colophon. The headpiece, caption title, and initial on folio 1 are
printed in red; the initial and headpiece are the only woodcuts in the volume.
Provenance: From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Adams J274; EDIT16 CNCE 32951. 18th-century vellum over pasteboards, slightly yapp edges; lower 1.5" of title-leaf excised removing “Veronae” and “MCXXXI” and missing paper very neatly replaced long ago. All edges blue. A little dust-soiling, notably to title-page, some leaves browned, occasionally a trivial stain, a marginal note or two in Greek.
In fact, a nice, clean copy. (40719)

A “Golden-Mouthed” Aldine
John Chrysostom, Saint; Giulio Poggiani, trans. Sancti Joannis Chrysostomi De virginitate liber, a Julio Pogiano conversus. Romae: Apud Paulum Manutium, Aldi F., 1562. 4to (21.8 cm, 8.625"). [8], 64 ff.
$2250.00
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First Aldine edition: Chrysostom's meditations on the religious aspects of virginity, De Virginitate liber, along with a letter from Poggiani to Cardinal Bishop of Augsburg Otto Truchsess von Waldburg and a note to the reader. Essentially an extension of the papacy, the Roman Aldine press capitalized on its fame to disseminate — with great cachet — Vatican-approved texts in the publication war that was such an integral part of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation.
John Chrysostom (349–407) was one of the four doctors of the Greek Church and the foremost preacher among the Church Fathers, the name “Chrysostom” meaning “golden-mouthed.” The subject of some controversy, he fell afoul of the Empress Eudoxia and was exiled. Italian humanist and Greek scholar Poggiani (1522–68), secretary to Carlo Borromeo, led a much calmer life editing texts related to the Council of Trent, and even translated into Latin a catechism organized by the council.
The text is neatly printed in roman in single-column format with capital spaces with guide letters (unaccomplished) and marginal notes; the title-page contains the iconic Aldine device.
Provenance: Early ink signature “Alexii Feni” on title-page; most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear of both the text and its clamshell housing.
Adams C1559; UCLA, Aldine Press: Catalogue of the Ahmanson-Murphy Collection (2001), 674; EDIT 16 CNCE 27775; Renouard, Alde, p. 186, 5; Goldsmid, Aldine Press at Venice, *546. On John Chrysostom, see: New Catholic Encyclopedia, VII, 1041–44. 16th-century limp vellum with title label on spine and evidence of ties; vellum wrinkled and stained, significant portions lacking on spine, edges of endpapers tattered with some paper loss and text block recently reattached. Housed in a maroon cloth clamshell with black leather labels. Light to moderate age-toning and staining with the occasional spot, several leaves with waterstaining to bottom corner or small marginal worm tracking; a handful of creased corners, a few examples of hurried paper manufacture, chipping to edges of first and last few leaves of text including title-page. Provenance marks as above, one early inked correction to a marginal note. (38092)

Spanish Statecraft — First English Appearance
Juan de Santa María, fray. Christian policie: Or, the Christian common-wealth. London: Pr. by Thomas Harper for Richard Collins, 1632. 4to (22 cm, 8.6"). [18 of 19 (lacks blank {only}], 481, [1] pp.
$2850.00
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Uncommon first edition of this English translation of Fray Juan de Santa María's Tratado de República y policía christiana, published in 1615. A Christian perspective on the powers and responsibilities of monarchs, the work was inspired by the Franciscan author's opposition to the government of the Duke of Lerma. The English rendition was often assigned to Edward Blount (who signed the dedication), but is now generally considered the work of
scholar and poet James Mabbe, known for his translations of Cervantes and other works of Spanish literature and theology.
The title-page here is a cancel, changing the publisher from Edward Blount to Richard Collins. The work was additionally issued in the same year with yet another title-page, under the title, Policy Unveiled: Wherein may be Learned the Order of True Policie in Kingdomes and Commonwealths, the Matters of Justice, and Government. . . .
Uncommon: ESTC, OCLC, and NUC Pre-1956 find only 9 U.S. holdings.
ESTC S107911; STC (2nd ed.) 14831. Period-style calf framed and panelled in gilt fillets with gilt-stamped corner fleurons; spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title and author labels. Lacks initial blank leaf, as is the case with virtually all copies. Two leaves with tattered outer edges, one leaf with small hole affecting a few letters; pages with some moderate offsetting, a few browned. (25084)

Editio Princeps Estienne Printing
Justin, Martyr, Saint. [in Greek, romanized as] Tou hagiou Ioustinou philosophou kai martyros, Zēna kai Serēnō, Logos parainetikos pros HellēEx Officina Roberti Stephani nas. Pros Tryphōna Ioudaion dialogos. Apologia hyper Christianōn pros tēn Rhōmaiōn sygklēton [etc., i.e., Opera omnia] ... ex Bibliotheca Regia. Lutetiae: ex officina Roberti Stephani typographi Regii, Regiis typis, 1551. Median folio (34.5 cm, 13.5"). [4] ff., 311, [1] pp., [2] ff.
$2000.00
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The editio princeps, printed using the first font of the “grecs du roi” (i.e., Claude Garamond's “gros-romain” font of the “grecs du roi,” as per Mortimer), and based on the manuscripts in the French Royal Library. Schreiber notes that its publication resulted in a “sensation . . . among the learned [that was] still remembered . . . over 40 years later” by Henri Estienne and noted in the preface to his edition in 1592 of Pseudo-Justinus.
Adding to the wonderful Greek typography, Robert Estienne has enhanced his text with gorgeous woodcut foliated and grotesque Greek initials and harmonious headpieces. “The edition was complete and published by Charles Esteinne after Robert's final departure for Geneva” (Schreiber).
Provenance: 18th-century bookplate of Beilby Thompson of Eserick (1742–99 ), who may famously be remembered for having gradually bought up and relocated the village of Eserick to move it away from his house. Later in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.
Binding: 18th-century calf in a modified Cambridge-style binding. The covers' central panels, stained black and outlined in a filigree roll, are surrounded by a wide frame of tan calf; beyond that, at the boards' edges, is a 1.5" outer border of sprinkled calf. Blind-tooled rules and beading articulate the intersections, with black(?)-stamped devices accenting the tan compartments' corners, in the speckled section, and with the chains connecting those devices to the innermost panel being also (sometimes?) blackened. The round spine has raised bands accented by gilt rules above and below each band, and a gilt-stamped label with the author's name abbreviated.
Renouard, Estienne, 79/2; Adams J494; Hoffmann, Bibliographisches Lexicon der gesamten Literatur der Griechen, II, 502–503, & 648; Shaaber, Sixteenth-century Imprints, J111; Armstrong 138, 222; Mortimer, French, II, 335; Schreiber, Estienne, 107. Bound as above, front board recently expertly reattached; endpapers chipped and front one with upper outer corner torn away.
A very nice, very wide-margined copy. (40074)

Good Works — Greek & Latin — A Very Large & Handsome Folio
Justin, Martyr, Saint. [in Greek, transliterated as] Tou en Hagiois Patros Hemon Ioustinou philosophou kai Martyros Ta heuriskomena panta, [then in roman] S.P.N. Justini philosophi et martyris opera quæ exstant [sic] omnia. Paris: Sumptibus Carolii Osmont, 1742. Large folio (42.6 cm, 16.75"). [3] ff., cxxviii, 657 [i.e., 653], [1] pp.
$900.00
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Principal edition of the collected works of Saint Justin Martyr (ca. 100–165), “much the greatest figure” of Christian apologists since the Apostles (NCE). The first Latin translation of his works did not appear until 1554. This is the
authoritative edition edited by Prudent Maran (1683–1762), who reordered the works so that Justin's Dialogue with Trypho follows his two apologies, according to the original sequence. Only these three documents, which survive in later manuscripts, are surely his; however many other works are attributed to Justin. The present text contains the Dialogue, Apology I–II, and more, with biographical documents appended.
The text, in Latin and Greek, is divided into two sections: a preface in 15 short chapters, and the main text. The former is printed in roman and italic with nice woodcut head- and tailpieces, and one historiated woodcut initial. Sidenotes, footnotes, and woodcut ornaments like those in the former section enhance the main text, which is printed double column in parallel Latin and Greek, with two handsome engraved initials on the first page below a finely engraved vignette by J. B. Guélard (fl. ca. 1730) after a drawing by A. Humblot (fl. ca. 1740). The title-page, printed in red and black, has an engraved device by [Nicolas-Jean-Baptiste] de Poilly (1707–80). This copy also has a half-title page.
Brunet, III, 623 (“Bonne édition”); Graesse, III, 515; NCE 8: 94–95 and online (St. Justin Martyr). Contemporary treed calf triple-ruled in blind on covers, spine gilt extra with author and title gilt to red morocco spine label, board edges with gilt double-rule, marbled endpapers in a stone pattern and matching marbled edges, emerald green ribbon place holder. Upper joint starting with volume strong despite this and its large size; boards scuffed, corners bumped and rubbed revealing boards; stains on pastedowns and endpapers from underlying turn-ins of the binding. Light foxing in a few places, thumbsoiling, and occasional small stains; one leaf with a corner torn away, another with a natural paper flaw, a few leaves creased. A good copy of a
very imposing book. (30647)

German-American CATHOLIC Personal Devotions — An EXTENDED Manuscript
Fraktur Rubrics — “Pennsylvania Dutch” Embellishments
Kary, Simon. Manuscript on paper, in German, transcribed as: [one or two words blotted and unclear, then] sich befinden in Andachtübung Gott deß Morgens, und Abends, bey den Heiligen Meß, Beicht und Kommunion Gebettern zu sprechen. Wie auch unterschiedliche Getbetter zu Christo, und Maria, auf die fürnehmsten FestTage deß Jahrs. Und auch Gebetter zu dem Heiligen Gottes zu finden sein. Zu grössern Ehr und Seelen Trost. Geschrieben worden von dem Simon Kary im Jahr 1799. [i.e., Catholic prayer book]. No place [Pennsylvania]: 1799. 12mo (16.3 cm, 6.4"). [2], 136 pp.
$22,500.00
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In 1799 the German population in the U.S. is estimated to have been between 85,000 and 100,000 individuals, the vast majority being Protestants of one stripe or another. German Catholics were a very, very small minority, totalling perhaps 3,000 or so and concentrated in Pennsylvania, served in their faith by German Jesuit missionaries who established the mission of The Sacred Heart at Conewago and Father Schneider’s mission church in Goshenhoppen.
There were no German-language Catholic prayer books published in the U.S. until the 19th century, so those wishing to have one before then had to have a bookstore import it or engender one in manuscript — either by hiring a scribe or by inditing it personally.
Simon Kary chose the latter option and personally executed his personal prayer book in the style that was current in the “Pennsylvania Dutch” region.
His lovingly created, appealingly decorated late-18th-century manuscript book of German Catholic devotional prayers (i.e., Gebetsbüchlein) is in the typical German-American fraktur style in his codex, the title-page, sectional title-pages, and sub-section beginnings are written in fraktur lettering in red, green, black, and rose, with the initial line or lines of each prayer in red only, and the text is written throughout in sepia in cursive. All pages are given double-ruled borders; some of the fraktur capitals incorporate foliate and floral designs.
Kary’s personally selected, 136-page collection of devotions contains, as he described it, “appropriate prayers to God,. a intended for use in the morning and evening, for Holy Mass, for confession . . s well as various prayers to Christ, to Mary on the highest feast days of the year, and also prayers to the Saint [sic] of God. For the greater honor and comfort of the soul.”
The manuscript is written on laid paper, with vertical chain lines, gathered in eights, and its
original block-printed paper wrappers have survived with it.
German-American Catholic fraktur prayer books are rare but not unknown; for example, the renowned collection of fraktur at the Free Library of Philadelphia contains a “Himmlischer Palm Zweig Worinen die Auserlesene Morgen Abend Auch Beicht und Kommunion Wie auch zum H. Sakrament In Christo und seinen Leiden, wie auch zur der H. Mutter Gottes, 1787" (item no: frkm064000; https://libwww.freelibrary.org/digital/item/41639). Still, early German-American Catholic religious manuscripts are
objectively rare, especially on the market.
Manuscript additions to the manuscript: An early-19th-century owner of Kary's manuscript has added somberly appropriate matter opposite its title-page, i.e., on the inside of the front wrapper, that reads, in translation: “Forget not your father and your mother, for they have died. My most honored father died on 17th March in the year of the Lord [1]784. My beloved mother died on 6th December in the year of the Lord [1]801. The 14th November in the year of the Lord [1]803. M.S. in the sign of the fish.”
Provenance: Simon Kary in 1799; by 1803 owned by M.S. (as per inside front wrapper). Later early-19th-century ownership signature of Anna Holzinger on title-page; later 19th-century pencil signature of “Theresa” in lower margin of same with similar inscription on the outside of the front wrapper.
We thank Prof. Edward Quinter for his help in ranscribing and translating this manuscript's title-page and translating the family notes opposite it. Recent light blue paper–covered boards with printed paper spine label, original block-printed wrappers preserved inside; early inked annotations in German on inside of original front wrapper and elsewhere, as detailed above. First two leaves and several others with areas of waterstaining, with tissue-paper repair to title-page partially obscuring several lines of text; last leaves with areas darkened as with some variety of oil. Pages age-toned, with scattered spots and occasional offsetting.
A manuscript attractive, engaging, and worthy of study; an enduring testimony to piety among an important, early American religious minority. (41242)

Former
Pagan Defends Christianity
Lactantius (ca. 240 – ca. 320). L. Coelii Lactantii Firmiani opera, quae quidem extant omnia... Basileae: per Henricum Petri, [colophon: 1563]. 4to (29.2 cm, 11.5"). [12] ff., 559, [21] pp.
$1250.00
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North African apologist Lactantius (ca. 240–320) converted to Christianity prior to 303, before settling in Trier to tutor Constantine's son Crispus. Deemed the “Christian Cicero” by Renaissance scholars, Lactantius is better known for his elegant writing style than for his knowledge of Scripture, yet of his works only those concerning Christianity survive — including, in the present copy, his earliest treatise, De opificio dei (303/304); the Institutiones in seven books, which was
the first systematic description of Christianity in Latin (completed 313); the Epitome divinarum institutionum, which synthesizes the Institutions; the supplement De ira dei; the Phoenix poem; and the Carmen de dominica resurrectione.
Basel printer Henricus Petrus (Sebastian Henric Petri, 1546–1627) was responsible for the publication of very important works, including an early edition of Copernicus and Münster's Cosmographia, the first German description of the world. He printed this Latin and Greek, later edition of Lactantius's opera with the main text in roman, single column; the extensive commentary by Birk in italic, double column; the indices triple-column; and the whole text punctuated by handsome historiated and floriated woodcut initials of various sizes, some quite large. There are one
woodcut diagram showing the opposition of Light (God) and Dark levels of the universe and
multiple letterpress charts. The title-page features the printer's device, a variant of which also appears on the final verso.This is the first appearance of this commentary by
Xystus Betuleius (Sixt Birk, 1501–54), a corrector for the Basel printers and a teacher at various schools who composed German and Latin didactic dramas; commentaries on Lactantius (this) and Cicero; and a concordance of the Greek New Testament. An associate of Erasmus, he witnessed Erasmus's first will, in 1527.
Adams L27; VD16 L42; Graesse, IV, 66. Not in Schweiger or Brunet. On Lactantius, see: New Catholic Encyclopedia, VIII, 308–09. On Birk, see: Contemporaries of Erasmus, pp. 150–51. Recent full brown morocco blind-ruled, old style; raised bands on spine accented with gilt ruling, author and title gilt in second compartment and date collector style at spine base, edges lightly speckled brown. Mild foxing on some leaves; limited, very light old waterstaining in latter half, this rising on a few leaves to “moderate” and being virtually all marginal; a few small stains from chemical reactions in paper. One marginal oxidized inkstain, slim but dark, offset onto next neighboring pages (only); two very small tears in last leaf. There is one short paragraph of
contemporary inked marginalia on one leaf, and one instance of underlining on another. (31312)

Cutting-Edge Biblical Scholarship Three Maps
Lamy, Bernard. Commentarius in harmoniam sive concordiam quatuor evangelistarum.... Parisiis: Excudebat Joannis Anisson, 1699. 4to (12.6 cm, 10.25"). 2 vols. in 1. I: 2 a[n]4 e[n]4 AZ4 AaZz4 AAaZZz4 AAaa OOoo4; [2] ff., xvi, 661, [1] pp., [25] ff.; 3 plts. II: 2 ah4 AZ4 AaXx4 Yy2; [2] ff., lxiv, 326 pp., [15] ff.; 3 plts.
$800.00
Click the interior images for enlargements.
Bernard Lamy (16401715) was an Oratorian priest, philosopher, and biblical scholar. After getting himself exiled to Grenoble for excessive Cartesianism, he went on to do significant work in biblical studies, and this present work is especially notable: Lamy here contends that Jesus died on the cross on the eve of the Passover (thus at the same time as the Passover lamb was being killed), not during the first day of the Passover. This view, while considered radical at the time, is now generally held by biblical scholars.
This work was first published under the title Harmonia, sive concordia quatuor evangelistarum in 1689. This second edition is printed in small roman types with some italic, Greek, and Hebrew. Ornaments include an ornate woodcut fleur-de-lis on the title-pages, plus initials and headpieces. Vol. II (bound in) consists of the Apparatus chronologicus et geographicus, chronologies and geographical descriptions with three fine fold-out plates: a map of Judea, a plan of Jerusalem, and a plan of the temple.
Provenance: Charles Spencer, Third Earl of Sunderland, lot 7230 in the Sunderland Library sale (1882).
On Lamy, see: New Catholic Encyclopedia, VIII, 35455. 18th-century vellum over boards with raised bands, lightly soiled; on the covers an ornate mandorla inside a composite frame. Crack in the vellum along front joint, joint itself sound. Ex-library with paper labels on spine; old pressure-stamps, including one on title-page of vol. I. Upper outer corner of title-leaf lost taking part of one letter of title; small tear into printed border of first map in vol. II. All edges speckled blue and red. A stout, substantial volume.

He Had One of Those
Breathtakingly Simple Insights . . .
Lancellotti, Giovanni Paolo. Institvtiones ivris canonici, qvibvs ivs pontificivm singulari methodo libris quattuor comprehenditur.... Lugduni: Apud haeredes Gulielmi Rouillii, 1614. 16mo (12.1 cm, 4.75"). AZ8AaNn8; 500 pp., [38] ff. [bound with] Naogeorg, Thomas. Rvbricæ, sive svmmæ capitvlorvm ivris canonici Thomæ Noageorgi [sic] Straubingensis opera in lucem editæ.... Lugduni: Apud haeredes Gulielmi Rouillii, 1614. 16mo. AS8; 286 pp., [1 (blank)] f.
$600.00
Lancellotti (152290) was a professor of law in Perugia. His teaching of canon law by arranging it into the same divisions (of persons, things, and actions) as Roman civil law made it much more accessible, and he was invited by Pope Paul IV to produce an Institutes of Canon Law on the model of the Institutes of Justinian, the standard work in Roman civil law. He published the present work, the result of his labors, in 1563; while it failed to attain the same legal status as the Institutes of Justinian, it received wide dissemination, and has had a major impact on the teaching of canon law to this day.
Bound with Lancellotti's work is a summary of titles of chapters of canon law compiled by Thomas Naogeorg (150863). Naogeorg's wanderings took him from being a Dominican to being a Lutheran to being a Calvinist. Along the way, during his Lutheran phase, he studied canon law for a year (1551) at Basel, during which time he compiled and published this work, likely as a student's guide. He is better known for his plays, in which he sharply attacks the Papacy.
The two works here were first published by the firm of Guillaume Rouillé, in 1587 and 1588 respectively, and may have been intended to be bound together, as witnessed by the Library of Congress copy. The title-page transcriptions of the earlier editions (except for the date and "hæredes"), and their signatures, pagination, and arrangement, match those of these present 1614 editions. There are italic shouldernotes, and woodcut headpieces and initials.
On Lancellotti, see: New Catholic Encyclopedia, VIII, 356. Contemporary calf, covers framed in gilt double fillets, rebacked with calf, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped compartment decorations; corners and edges rubbed, sides with small cracks and scuffs. All edges speckled brown. Bouquiniste's paper label on front pastedown and front free endpaper lacking. Two words inked long ago in two margins, and one page with old pencilled underlining. (3797)

Swearing, Loyalty, & HATRED
L'église gallicane au clergé de l'église de Paris, ou lettre de plusieurs administrateurs de diocèses, sur la conduite d'une partie des oratoires de Paris, relativement au serment de haine a la royauté & d'attachement a la constitution de l'an 3. Bruxelles: 1797. 8vo (21.3 cm, 8.4"). 47, [1] pp.
$110.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
First edition of an angry rebuttal of some reasons given for taking the oath of loyalty imposed after the coup of 18 Fructidor, with the “Regle de conduite des fidèles pendant la nouvelle calamité du sement . . . ” at the back.Uncommon: WorldCat and NUC Pre-1956 locate only three U.S. libraries reporting ownership.
Saricks, I, 385. Removed from a nonce volume, title-page with paper shelving label in lower inner corner, pencilled monogram in upper outer corner and that latter corner curled. Pages age-toned with some dust-soiled; last few leaves with crumpled edges or creased/dog-eared corners. (36788)

The
Road
to Heaven in
Nahuatl
León, Martín de. Camino del cielo en lengua mexicana, con todos los requisitos necessarios para conseguir este fin, co[n] todo lo que un Xp[r]iano deue creer, saber, y obrar, desde el punto que tiene uso de razon, hasta que muere. En Mexico: En la Emprenta de Diego Lopez Davalos, 1611. Small 4to (18.5 cm; 7.25"). Fols. 10–11, 13–69, 69[!]–73, [nothing missing] 76, 75, 77–108, 110–23.
$7250.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Sole colonial-era edition and one rare in commerce of Fr. Martín de León's famous work for priests ministering to Nahuatl-speaking Indians. Fray Martín is universally held to have been one of the great scholars of the language in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, admired for his fluency and ability to explain complex matters in elegant yet easy to understand expositions, as here in his confessionary, catechism, and calendar essay.
Tragedy struck this copy, which lacks the title-leaf, licences, dedication, preliminaries concerning use of the word “Teotlacatl,” prologue, the remarks on the Mexican language, the first nine leaves of the catechism in Nahuatl, and fols. 109 and 124–60. Surviving is most of the catechism, the section in Spanish on the syncretism of the Spanish and the Mexican religious calendars, and all but the last half page of the confessionary in Nahuatl, the missing paragraph supplied in early, neat manuscript — the book's sad owner redeeming its losses as best he could?
Sabin 40080; Palau 135423; Medina, Mexico, 160; García Icazbalceta, Lenguas, 37; Pilling, Proof-sheets, 2252; Viñaza 127; H. de León-Portilla, Tepuztlahcuilolli, 1543; Newberry Library, Ayer Indians, Nahuatl-136. Disbound but sewn; housed in a quarter red morocco clamshell case with marbled paper sides. Waterstaining throughout causing many pages to have an almost uniform tan appearance except in the foremargins; foremargins with shouldernotes shaved. Missing leaves as itemized above; fols. 30, 80–81, and 110–11 damaged with small loss, and repairs to some of these margins plus a few others; other usually minor scattered stains. The interesting woodcut on fol. 100 verso and text on recto, holed, still striking and readable respectively. Pencilled marks of emphasis and one faded note (or signature?) across a bottom margin in old ink.
Priced much, much less than a good, complete copy; and a relic with much more than its lowered price to recommend it. (25860)

To Talleyrand, on Behalf of
the Insulted Catholic Church
Lettre a M. Talleyrand, ancien evéque d'Autun, chef de la communion des Talleyrandistes, sur son rapport concernant l'admission égale & indéfinie de tous les cultes religieux. Paris: Chez les Marchands de Nouveautés, 1791. 8vo (21.8 cm, 8.6"). [2], 70 pp.
$400.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
First edition, with errata on the title-page verso: This address to Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord was written in response to his report “Liberté des cultes religieux,” made to the Assemblée nationale constituante's Comité de constitution on May 7, 1791, regarding the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. There was also a Chez Dufresne printing later in the same year.
Uncommon: WorldCat and NUC Pre-1956 locate only four U.S. institutional holdings of this first edition.
This ed. not in Martin & Walter (cf. IV 2: 8376). 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 and somewhat ragged; top edges mostly unopened; dust-soiling to outer leaves and untrimmed edges, with corners of a good many untriummed leaves turned in.
A nice copy. (36785).

The French Refugees Write Home
Lettre des prêtres Catholiques déportés, adressée à leurs
bienfaiteurs. [1799]. 8vo (20.3 cm, 8"). 16 pp.
$75.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
Scarce pamphlet
from the clergy in exile, addressed to N.T.C.F. (“nos très chers
frères”) and counseling patience and faithfulness.
Uncommon: WorldCat and NUC Pre-1956 locate only two U.S. institutional holdings.
Removed from a nonce volume. Title-page with affixed paper shelving label in lower inner corner and pencilled monogram in upper outer portion. Pages age-toned with a few light spots. (30814)
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Be Contrite
Lindeborn, Johannes. In poenitentiae sacramentum notae catecheticae, quibus eruditur poenitens, quam oris confessionem, cordis contritionem, & operis satisfactionem sacerdotalis absolutio requirat. Coloniae: pro Arnoldo ab Eynden, 1677. 8vo (16 cm; 6.25"). [8] ff., 221 pp.
$400.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition of six published between 1677 and 1679. Lindeborn (1630–96) wrote extensively, principally in Latin but with a few works appearing in Dutch, on the Holy Sacraments, topics central to the catechism, and the passion of Christ.
The present work deals with the sacrament of penance and the need for the penitent to confess orally and from the heart, to be contrite, and to do penance in order to receive the necessary, priestly absolution.
Provenance: In the 19th century in the library of the Seminarii Veteris Catholici Amisfurtensis (deaccessioned); from 2000 till 2016 in a private collection.
Searches of NUC and WorldCat
fail to locate any copies in U.S. libraries.
VD17 23:713687B. Contemporary vellum over pasteboards. Bound without pastedowns or free endpapers, but with four blank leaves before and after the text block!
A clean copy in an interesting anomalous binding style. (36748)

Let Me Make One Thing (OK, quite a few things!) Perfectly Clear . . .
Lizana y Beaumont, Francisco Javier. [drop-title] Nos d. Francisco Xavier de Lizana y Beaumont, por la gracia de Dios y la Santa Sede apóstolica arzobispo de México, del Consejo de Su Mag. &c. A los curas, coadjutores, vicarios, y eclesiasticos de esta nuestra diocesi. Salud en el Señor. Bendito sea el Padre de las misericordias, y Dios de todo consuelo ... [México]: No publisher/printer, [in text at end] 1803. Folio (29.5 cm, 11.5"). 12 pp.
$425.00
Click the images for enlargement.
On 30 January 1803, Lizana y Beaumont took possession of the archbishopric of Mexico City. Slightly more than a month later he issued this wide-ranging pastoral letter to his clergy, addressing issues of marriage, sanctioned separations of husbands and wives, indulgences, blessing of religious statues, instruction of children in the catechism, the need for everyone to attend mass, and the requirement that priests visiting Mexico City present themselves in a timely way at the Cathedral for permission to be in the city. In other words, the new archbishop is making it clear to his clergy what his chief initial concerns are and doing so in black and white.
This uncommon text is dated as having been issued 5 March 1803. Searches of NUC and WorldCat locate only three U.S. institutions reporting ownership: UTexas, DLC, UC-Berkeley.
Medina, Mexico, 9605. Sewn, in “wallpaper” polychromatic (orange, blue-green, yellow, white) wrappers. Creased at midpoint horizontally a long time ago; all corners dog-eared. Pencilled “dup” in upper margin of p. 1.
A rumpled but complete copy in a very interesting wrapper. (39467)

Cheating the Church Out of the Tithe Tax
Lopez Torrija, Carlos. Broadside. Begins: El Dr. Maestro Don Carlos Lopez Torrija ... Hago saver a todos los fieles ... qu sean duenos de hazinas de labor, rancho, tierreas dezimales, vezinos y moradores, estantes, y havitantes en la iurisidccion de la Ciudad de los Angeles ... Puebla de los Angeles: [Diego Fernandez de Leon], 1687. Folio extra (43 x 31 cm, 17" x 12.125"). [1] p.
$1250.00
Click the image for an enlargement.
Lopez Torrija is identified as an “Abogado de la Real Audiencia de Mexico . . . Cura en interin de la Parrochial de el Patriarcha San Ioseph de esta Ciudad, Iuez de Testamentos, Capellanias, obras pias, y diezmos en ella y todo su Obispado.” Here he seeks to rectify a quirk in the law concerning collection of the tithe (“diezmo”) tax. Indians and certain others who are exempt from paying the tithe tax have been raising corn and other crops on land that was lent, rented, or otherwise made available to them, thus allowing them to raise and sell more crops.
Reading between the lines, it is clear that the landowners are then splitting the “saved” sums with the farmers — or, sometimes, simply demanding them in full — with those payments to be taken out of the sale proceeds. Now all such arrangements must be registered and approved by the Church.
Searches of NUC and WorldCat locate only one copy worldwide — at the John Carter Brown Library.
Not in Medina, Puebla; Gavito, Adiciones a la Imprenta en la Puebla; not CCILA. Folded once longitudinally, otherwise, as printed. Crisp copy. (40408)
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