•  Medina, Lima, 2875.   Very good condition. Three small wormholes in each half of the sheet.  (24508)

This copy lacks the work by González de Montes, a.k.a. Reginaldus Gonsalvius Montanus, which should follow p. 212. It is largely printed in black letter.

Uncommon. OCLC finds only two holdings in the U.S., one being this copy, now properly deaccessioned, and the other at the John Carter Brown Library. NUC Pre-1956 does not identify any additional copies.

•  Vekené, Bib. der Inquisition, 139-140; Boehmer, Bibliotheca Wiffeniana, 290 (identifying the volume as the second Dutch translation of the Montanus work not present here).   19th-century half calf with marbled paper-covered sides; joints and corners rubbed. Front pastedown with institutional bookplate, title-page with early inked ownership inscription in upper margin. Pages age-toned with some mild waterstaining; one leaf with lower outer corner torn away, not affecting text.  (19569)

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•  Passano, Dizionario di opere anonime e pseudonime, 77.   Recent quarter black morocco and marbled paper-covered sides. Spine with gilt-stamped title and gilt center devices in spine compartments; gilt-stamped place and date of publication at foot; gilt-accented raised bands, with gilt ruling above and below each band; and gilt-tooled border on covers. Some loss of paper in lower margin of two leaves. Inked four-digit number at base of p. 1; no other markings. Small ink smudge within text area of p. 5, blotting out a few letters but not overall sense; pages otherwise clean. A very attractive copy.  (24464)

First edition and scarce: No copy traced via OCLC, RLIN, or NUC. Searches of the Hand Press Book and the KVK database, and of the OPACs of the national libraries of Britain, France, and Spain, locate only the copy at the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek and four(!) at the Biblioteca Nacional.

•  Palau 59952 (never having seen a copy). Contemporary limp vellum with button and loop ties. A gorgeous copy.

Galatino first published this work in 1516 at the request of the pope; it went through a number of editions. The Arcanis Catholicae is followed by Reuchlin’sDe Arte Cabalistica as issued, and the whole is bound with an Estienne printing of Mercier’s commentary on the minor prophets — a scarce book that is puzzling as regards its date of publication. Searches of OCLC, RLIN, & NUC locate only the copies at Oxford, Cambridge, University of Chicago, New York Public, and Harvard. The Americans date the work to 1583, following Renourd’s lead, while Oxford says 1570 and Cambridge says 1565.

All three texts are given in Latin, Hebrew, and Greek.

Provenance: Front pastedown with inked inscription reading “Ex Bibliotheca Hebr. & Judaica / H.A. Ader 1886.”

•  Galatino: VD17 1:083777H, or VD17 32:631273P. Mercier: Renouard 149; Adams M1318. 18th-century vellum with yapp edges, spine with gilt-stamped title; vellum moderately soiled, with front joint just starting from top. Waterstaining to front free endpaper and fly-leaf. Pastedown with inscription as above. Front free endpaper with early 19th-century inked inscription in upper corner; front fly-leaf with annotations and with affixed early cataloguing slips; booklabel of “Muehlbauer & Behrle, Publishers Importers & Booksellers . . . Chicago.” One leaf with pencilled marginal annotations.

running afoul of the Inquisition

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•  Wing (rev.) G446; ESTC R2995; Lowndes, II, 871.   Later half vellum with marbled paper–covered sides, spine with inked author's name; paper rubbed, vellum showing a few small scrapes and spots. Small early inked owner's name on title-page. Some leaves browned; one contents leaf with tear from outer margin extending into text for a few words, without loss. (21033)

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Offered here is a circular letter that the Holy Office sent all over New Spain saying that it had been a long time since there had been a General Inquisitorial “Visit,” and that consequently many law breakers are going unpunished. The Inquisitors call on everyone, no matter status or social condition, to denounce the following categories of criminals: Jews, Muhammadans, Lutherans (i.e., Protestants), “alumbrados,” abusers of the confessional, bigamists, astrologers and necromancers, witches and warlocks, devil worshippers, collectors of astrology and witchcraft books, peyote and marijuana users, and a number of other specified offenders and heretics. Tips on how to “spot” the various malefactors are given in detail and there are extended explanations of why the offenses are serious.

The explanations were undoubtedly given as a balm to ease the consciences of those worried about “turning in” a friend, neighbor, or relative. In the 1770s and 1780s the power and influence of the Inquisition in Mexico was at a very low ebb, and, indeed, it was on the verge of being suppressed. This publication shows just how desperate the institution was to justify itself.

Very rare.  Medina did not know of this and we only trace copies to the John Carter Brown and Cushing (TAMU) libraries. Our dating of the piece is based on the typography, the paper, the historiated initial on p. 1, the very large woodcut device of the Holy Office that appears above the beginning of the text, and most importantly, the in-text manuscript date of 1713 in the copy at the Cushing Library.

This copy bears a manuscript completion date of 14 November 1807, showing clearly that a large remainder of this early-18th-century printing was available a century later for reissue at a time when the earlier concerns had resurfaced.

•  Not in Medina, Mexico; nor González de Cossío, Cien; nor González de Cossío, 510.   Light to noticeable waterstaining in margins, darkest in upper margins of last two leaves. Tattering in blank margins. Silverfish damage to verso of last leaf causing weakness of paper, repaired with archival tissue (not obscuring or touching any text).  A good+ copy.  (24696)

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•  NSTC 2M9198.   Uncut, unopened. Folded as issued. Two long tears into text on two different leaves, repaired with archival tissue. Good+ copy.  (17506)

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According to the colophon: “Finit explicatio formalis totius primae partis Summae theologiae Sancti Thomae Aquinatis . . . Die 21. Decembris anni 1611 . . . Mantuae in aedibus Sanctissimae Inquisitionis.” The earliest edition in any U.S. library is the Venice, 1614 edition. This 1622 printing is reported as owned by only one U.S. institution, this copy having been deaccessioned by the other library of record.

•  VD17 12:643261D.   Contemporary vellum over light boards, small area of discoloration on spine; lacks the silk ties, bookplate removed, old library pressure-stamp on title (properly deaccessioned), NO rubber stamps. All edges stained blue. A very nice copy. (20728)

Paleario was at once a creation of the Renaissance and of the Reformation: He carried on a wide correspondence with the intellectuals of his time, he studied the writings of Luther and Erasmus, and he sought to reconcile the old with the new. This edition of his works is chiefly composed of his letters, but also includes “De Immortalitate Animorum libri III,” and “Poematia.”

•  On Paleario, see: Contemporaries of Erasmus, III, 45–46. Contemporary vellum over boards; bit of abrasion and black speckling in lower area of spine. 18th-century armorial bookplate on front pastedown. Occasional light spotting in text. Notes in pencil on rear endpapers. Rear free endpaper torn with loss of paper in the lower outer area.

Uncommon: OCLC locates only the copies at the Bancroft and Chilean National libraries; although, clearly, there is or was one in the Sutro Library.

•  Sutro 175.   Removed from a nonce volume. A good clean copy.  (21742)

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•  Not in Palau. Removed from a nonce volume. Title-page with shadow of pencilled numeral and faintly inked earlier numeral in upper margin. Pages creased but clean.