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ANTIQUARIAN
CATHOLICA
HAS ITS OWN, ADDITIONAL “AISLE”
IN THE PRB&M
WEBSHOP — WHICH
SEE.
See
also, via the Catalogue of Web Catalogues,
discrete gatherings devoted to Judaica/Hebraica, Books of Common Prayer,
Hymnals, Quakers/Friends, Mormon/LDS, Bibles & Testaments . .
.
etc. . . .
For
an unillustrated PDF gathering of “Mission'iana”
click here.
&
for extended, unillustrated PDF lists of denominational interest
click here.
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“Every
inordinate cup is
Unblessed
& the
ingredient is
a
Devil”
(Othello)
Albany Religious Tract Society; & Eleazer Williams. Iontatretsiarontha, ne agwegon ahonwan igonrarake, ne raonha ne songwaswens ... a caution against our common enemy. Albany [N.Y.]: Printed for the Albany Religious Tract Society by Churchill & Abbey, 1815. 8vo (19.5 cm; 7.75"). 12 pp.
$4500.00
The Rev. E. Williams (1787–1858) translated a number of important catechistical and proselytization texts into Iroquoian, including the famous 1837 Book of Common Prayer in Oneida. In 1815, when this highly uncommon text appeared, he was a catechist at Oneida Castle, NY.
The text is a plea for Temperance and includes the ten commandments concerning drink.
This is one of the earliest Temperance tracts written in an indigenous American language and given the importance of alcoholism as a medical problem among native Americans, is something of a landmark work.
Click the images for enlargements.
Rare. Searches of on-line databases, NUC Pre-1956, and the sources cited below locate only three institutional copies, none of which are in medical libraries.
Shaw & Shoemaker 36578; Pilling, Proof-sheets, 4134; Pilling, Iroquoian, 176. Not in Field; not in Ayer.
Sewn. Pinned into later plain wrappers. Our caption, from Othello (II, iii 286–87), DOES NOT appear in the pamphlet offered — we just couldn't resist it, and believe that Williams would have approved. (24599)
Allix, Pierre. Dissertatio de Trisagii origine. Rothomagi: Apud Joannem Lucas, 1674. 8vo (18.2 cm, 7.125"). A–I4; 70 pp., [1 (blank)] f.
$1000.00
Click the interior images for enlargements.
Peter Allix (1641–1717) was a Huguenot pastor and theologian
noted for his works on theology and Church history: In this work he investigates
the origins of the well-known Greek hymn, the Trisagion, i.e., “Holy God,
Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us” that also figures prominently
in Western liturgies. Obliged to flee France following the revocation of the
edict of Nantes in 1685, he continued his academic writings (now in English)
and—using the Anglican liturgy—founded a French church in London.
This
sole
edition is ornamented with a woodcut printer’s device
and a woodcut headpiece and initial; the text is referenced with sidenotes.
Rare:
Only two copies traced in the U.S. via OCLC, RLIN, and NUC Pre-1956.
Provenance: Bookplate of Virtue
& Cahill Library (the library of Portsmouth’s Catholic Cathedral)
no. 8783, with a large overlaid rubber-stamp thereon starkly, blackly noting
the dispersal and eventual sale of the library “following enemy action”—the
cathedral having been bombed by the Germans in 1941.
On Allix, see: The Dictionary of National Biography,
I, 334–35. 19th- or early 20th-century half calf over marbled paper,
spine with gilt title; edges of leather with a dog’s tooth roll in blind.
Leather rubbed, especially on joints and edges. Some soiling and waterstaining,
mostly light and most notable on early leaves, with some small wormholes in
the margins; a little fine chipping and some shallow dog-ears. Old inked ownership
inscription on title-page, crossed out but still legible.

Rosicrucianism? Definitely Satire!
Andreae, Johann Valentin. Menippus, sive, Dialogorum satyricorum centuria inanitatum nostratium speculum cum quibusdam aliis liberioribus. Helicone, iuxta Parnassum [really, Argentorati]: no publisher/printer, 1617. 12mo (12.5 cm; 5"). 284 pp.
$3000.00
Click the interior images for enlargements.
Andreae is a problematic figure in the history of Rosicrucianism: he is widely credited (including by himself in his autobiographical writings) as the author of the Chemical Wedding, one of the foundation works of the Rosicrucians, but virtually all of his writings involving alchemy and Rosicrucians are satires on or of alchemists and Rosicrucians.
Menippus is, as its title proclaims, a satirical work discussing magic, education of princes, mathematics, heretics, utopias, evil, and more than 100 other topics.
Hogart, Alchemy, 8; not in Faber du Faur; VD17 23:286690E. “Johann Valentin Andreae: die Manifeste der Rosenkreuzerbruderschaft. Kat. Ausst.” in Bibl. Philosophica Hermetica (Amsterdam 1986), pp. 106–07: nr. 39 for the second edition; Yates, The Rosicrucian Enlightenment, esp. pp. 141–47. Recent dark calf, raised bands, modest gilt tooling on spine; covers interestingly tooled in blind as are two of the spine panels. Title and place and date of publication in gilt on spine. Age-soiling and spotting, some early leaves with tears now repaired. Early underlining in ink. In decent shape for a book that was heavily read in its time and which survives in few copies. (24112)

Defending the Immortality of the Soul
&
also the Necessity of a Revealed Religion
Anonymous. Free thoughts upon the discourse of free-thinking. London: John Pemberton, 1713. 8vo (19.8 cm, 7.8"). [4], 68 pp.
$400.00
First edition of this anonymously published, unattributed response to Anthony Collins's Discourse of Free-thinking. That controversial treatise, the groundbreaking work of the 17th- and 18th-century English Freethought movement, inspired numerous rebuttals, with the present item being one of the less commonly seen replies.
ESTC T96164. Recent marbled paper–covered boards, front cover with gilt-stamped leather title-label. Pages slightly age-toned, else clean. (20770)

Extended MANUSCRIPT in an
UNCOMMON PHILIPPINE LANGUAGE
Antonio Lobato de Santo Tomás. Manuscript in Ibanag on paper: “Quinque sermones in quinque precipuis festivitatibus B. Maria Virginis. Quibus accedunt sermo in feria quarta cinerumz et sermo in dominica 2o post octavam trinitatis. Per R. P. fray Antoniium Lobatao de Sto. Thomas. Tuguegarao, The Philippines: 1776–80. Small 4to. 196 pp.
$30,000.00
Click the interior images for enlargements.
Precious few manuscript sources in the Ibanag language survive from the Spanish colonial era of the Philippines. Only a handful of missionaries worked in the region of the northeastern Philippine provinces of Isabela and Cagayan, most notably in Tuguegarao City, Solana, Cabagan, and Ilagan, where the language was/is spoken; and not all mastered the tongue. Fray Antonio Lobato was one of those who did and it was he who took Fr. José Bugarin's Ibanag–Spanish dictionary, created in the previous century, and edited it to a usable work — though the result was not published until the 19th century, and, apparently, no other work was published in the language during the 16th, 17th, or 18th centuries.
The importance, then, of
a large body of work set down in the Ibanag language, from the 18th century and as written/spoken by one of the seminal scholars of the language, should be obvious for anyone researching the language as understood by missionaries, as used by missionaries, as influenced by Spanish, and as held out by Spaniards of authority as the model of Ibanag speech to be emulated. Beyond this, of course, is the interest of the sermons themselves, letting us see what the Ibanaq speakers were hearing from their missionaries — or, at least, this missionary — in this place, in this period.
Fray Antonio's sermons are here written in a clear, easy to read hand and the dates of composition or of delivery are often noted.
Provenance: A signature “Fr. Antonio Lobato de Sto. Thomas” appears at the bottom of the last page and is almost certainly that of the the friar himself, which would mean that this is his autograph manuscript of the sermons.
Contemporary very stiff vellum. Binding gnawed by a rodent with loss. Written on a good quality European paper, with some soiling and an occasional stain. No faults are serious and overall this is a remarkably good survival for an 18th-century Philippines manuscript. Now housed in a blue cloth clamshell box. (23668)
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more CATHOLICA, click here.
[Arnall,
William]. The second part of the case of tythes; containing animadversions
on a reverend prelate’s remarks upon the bill now depending in Parliament...to
which are prefix’d the reverend prelate’s remarks. The third edition,
with additions. London: J. Peele, 1731. 8vo (19 cm, 7.5"). 32 pp.
$425.00

A political writer who took up his pen at a very tender age, Arnall
became a target of Pope’s wrath (in the epilogue to the Satires:
“Spirit of Arnall, aid me whilst I lie!”). Here he involves himself
in the contemporary debate over tithing rights, questioning assertions made
in favor of the clergy. The points he rebuts were made by Thomas Sherlock, in
his Remarks upon a Bill Now Depending in Parliament; the response appeared
in its earlier editions under the simpler title Animadversions on a Reverend
Prelate’s Remarks, with this third edition being the first to bear
the expanded title, which apparently refers to Arnall’s text serving as
the second part of the prelate’s remarks.
Conveniently, both Sherlock’s argument and Arnall’s
response are printed here.
ESTC T108041. On Arnall, see: The Dictionary of National
Biography, II, 103). Removed from a nonce volume and now in a Mylar folder.
Final page stamped by a now-defunct institution. Small area of worming in
lower outer corner throughout, not touching text.
Arnold, Thomas. Principles of Church reform. London: Pr. [by R. Clay] for B. Fellowes, 1833. 8vo (20 cm, 7.875"). v, [1 (blank)], 88 pp.
$225.00
Principles of Church Reform by Thomas Arnold (1795–1842), the famous reforming headmaster of Rugby, was an important and controversial argument for comprehension of Protestant dissenters within the Church of England, including proposals for revising Church government and liturgy to encourage that. This is the first of four 19th-century editions, all published in 1833 (it was also reprinted by SPCK in 1962).
Single-click
the image,
for an enlargement.
NSTC 2A16362. On Arnold, see: DNB, II, 113–17. Removed from a nonce volume. A few dog ears, some shallow chipping, and traces of soiling. A little underlining and sidelining in old ink.
[Asgill,
John]. Mr. Asgill’s defence upon his expulsion from the House of
Commons of Great Britain in 1707. With an introduction, and a postscript. London:
A. Baldwin, 1712. 8vo (19.2 cm, 7.55"). 87, [1] pp.
$200.00

Asgill, expelled from the Irish House of Commons for the questionable
state of his finances and then from the English House for having published his
claim that true believers in Christ will be translated wholly into Heaven rather
than experiencing bodily death, here expounds on
his rapturous religious
tenets while affirming his belief in the Scriptures and denying
any wrongdoing—especially in the pesky land speculation matter. One might,
upon perusing Asgill’s arguments, agree with the assessment made by the
printer of the original treatise, who “fancy’d [Asgill] was a little
craz’d” (p. 40).
This example is apparently a variant state of the first edition of 1712 (ESTC
does not distinguish between variants, grouping all entries under one listing),
with p. 61, line 8 ending “of the Romish Persuasion.’
ESTC T41498. On Asgill, see: The Dictionary of National Biography,
II, 159–61. Removed from a nonce volume, now in a Mylar folder. Title-page
with small numeric stamp, spots of discoloration. A few pages more notably
browned than their neighbors; otherwise generally clean.

The Very Rare Richmond Printing
First Edition of the First Register — Anti-Slavery Content
Asplund, John. The annual register of the Baptist denomination, in North-America; to the first of November, 1790. Containing an account of the churches and their constitutions, ministers, members, associations, their plan and sentiments, rule and order, proceedings and correspondence. Also remarks upon practical religion. [Richmond: Printed by Dixon, Nicolson, and Davis, April, 1792]. 4to (18.5 cm; 7.5"). iv, 5-60 pp.
$2250.00
Click the interior images for enlargements.
First edition of the first Baptist annual register, with an anti-slavery statement set firmly forth.
The wonderful cataloguers at the American Antiquarian Society write of this edition: “Apparently printed in sections, presumably by John Dixon, Thomas Nicolson and Augustine Davis, rival Richmond printers. The first 16 p. were probably printed in 1791; p. 17-60 in or before April, 1792. Evans, however, postulates that the first 16 p. were printed by Thomas Dobson of Philadelphia in September, 1792, and that Asplund replaced the original gatherings A and B of this edition with Dobson’s corrected sheets. Cf. the prefaces to the 1794 and 1796 editions, with title: The universal register of the Baptist denomination . . .”
In addition to its exhaustive account of who's who and what's where, this lists
both principles of belief and “Rules of Decorum”; the latter, e.g.,
forbid laughing and whispering when another member of the association is speaking
in assembly. Just before the Appendix, Asplund remarks on the un-Christian “inconsistency”
of “Keeping our fellow-creatures in bondage, who have as good a right
was we, both to civil and religions liberty — Not only so; but misusing
them, concerning common blessings, which certainly is a violation of the rights
of nature and inconsistent with a republican government.”
This
was a standard Baptist stance, if not one universally held; it is striking here
as appearing on p. 52, in the part of the pamphlet that Evans and the AAS agree
was Richmond-printed. At the end of that section,
Asplund notes that
he
is writing from the American “field”
“N.B. I am now travelling to collect materials for the Baptist History
of Virginia, which, perhaps, will be in print within eighteen months.”
Rare. We trace fewer
than half a dozen copies in U.S. libraries.
Evans 26580; Sabin 2222; ESTC W37301. 19th-century half
morocco with marbled paper covered boards; binding with label of “John
C. Moore, Rochester, NY.” Ex-library with area of discoloration on front
board where call number label was removed; bookplate on front pastedown; rubber-stamp
on title-page, and small stamp and pencilling on rear of same. Approximately
60% of title-leaf replaced in pen and ink facsimile. Some foxing and age-toning.
Not an ideal copy, but given the rarity, a darned good one. (24456)

Dobson Printing of
Asplund's Annual Register
Asplund, John. The annual register of the Baptist denomination, in North-America; to the first of November, 1790. Containing an account of the churches and their constitutions, ministers, members, associations, their plan and sentiments, rule and order, proceedings and correspondence. Also remarks upon practical religion. [Philadelphia: Pr. by Thomas Dobson, 1792]. Small 4to. iv, 5-57, [1], 69-70 pp.
$650.00
According to the OPAC at the American Antiquarian Society, this is “An abridgment of the 70 p. Philadelphia edition (Evans 26583) printed by Dobson in September 1772 [i.e., 1792]. In the present issue, the appendix relating to the Baptist churches of Great Britain (p. 58-66) has been omitted, and p. 57 has been reset.
Click the images for enlargements.
As is the case with the 70 p. issue, the first 16 p. are the same sheets as appear in the original [Richmond, April 1792] edition (Evans 26580), and were probably printed in 1791. Evans, however, postulates that the first 16 p. were printed by Dobson in September 1792. He accounts for their presence in copies of the [Richmond] edition of 60 p. by suggesting that Asplund substituted the corrected Philadelphia sheets for the unsatisfactory sheets of the earlier edition. Cf. the prefaces to the 1794 and 1796 editions, with title: The universal register of the Baptist denomination.”
In addition to its exhaustive account of who's who and what's where, this lists both principles of belief and “Rules of Decorum”; the latter, e.g., forbid laughing and whispering when another member of the association is speaking in assembly. Between the “Rules of Decorum” and the Index, Asplund remarks on the un-Christian “inconsistency” of “Keeping our fellow-creatures in bondage, who have as good a right was we, both to civil and religions liberty — Not only so; but misusing them, concerning common blessings, which certainly is a violation of the rights of nature and inconsistent with a republican government.”
Evans 26582; ESTC W37302. Uncut copy. In 20th-century black buckram binding. Ex-library with bookplate but no other markings. (24467)
Associate
Reformed Church in North America. The Constitution and Standards....
New York: Pr. by T.J. Swords, 1799. 8vo (21.5 cm, 8.5"). 612 pp., [2] ff.
$475.00

Scottish “Covenanters” (so-called because they signed
the "National Covenant" against the BCP in February 1638) and “Seceders”
(those who refused to join the Church of Scotland when Presbyterianism was established
in 1691) in Pennsylvania joined to form the Associate Reformed Church in 1782
and soon added to their number from all over the eastern seaboard. This first
edition of their Constitution and Standards is printed in five parts
each with its own sectional title-page, and ornamented with a few woodcut tailpieces.
It opens with the Westminster Confession and includes the other key documents
of Scottish Calvinism with a section on the “Government, Discipline, and
Worship” of the Associate Reformed Church. While many congregations joined
the United Presbyterian Church in the 19th century, the Associate Reformed Church
is still in existence under the title of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian
Church.
ESTC W35823; Evans 35119. Contemporary sheep, spine with red leather title
label; abraded with a few wormholes (including one track across spine) and
front joint opening. Some pages quite stained, not impairing reading; a couple
instances of chipping in margins with loss of letters. Front free endpaper
excised. Pp. 433–44 pinned together in the inside margin. Pencil doodlings
on half-title and p. [5].
Two
Church Fathers
Two
Scholar Printers
An
Apparatus by Erasmus
Athanasius, Saint, Patriarch of Alexandria. Athanasii Episcopi Alexandrini sanctissima, eloquentissma que opera ... que omnia olimia[m] latina facta Christophoro Porsena, Ambrosio Monacho, Angelo Politiano, interpretibus, una cum doctissima Erasmi Roterodani ad pium lectorem paraclesi. [bound with another work as below]. Parisiis: Joanne Paruo [i.e., Jean Petit] , [1519]. Folio extra. [6], 255, [66] ff. [bound with] Basil, Saint, Bishop of Caesarea.
Basilii Magni Caesariensium in Cappadocia Antistitis sanctissimi opera plane diuina, variis e locis sedulo collecta: & accuratio[n]e ac impe[n]sis Iodici Badii Asce´sii recognita & coimpressa, quorum index proxima pandetur charta. [Paris: Venundantur eidem Ascensio [i.e., Badius Ascensius, 1520]. Folio extra. [10], 178 ff.
$3850.00
Click any image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.
Two editions of Church Fathers from two scholar/printer presses. St. Athanasius's text was translated into Latin by three noted Renaissance scholars, edited by Nicholas Beraldus, and has the added prestige of apparatus by Erasmus. The title-page is printed within a four-piece woodcut border, with the title in red and black, and the page bears the famous Petit printer's device. The text enjoys handsome typography, side- and shouldernotes, and large woodcut initials.
The St. Basil is from Badius Ascensius's press and he acted as the editor, the translators having been Johannes Argyropoulos, Georgius Trapezuntius, and others. The title-page uses the same four-part woodcut title-page border as found on the St. Athanasius, bound in at the front, which makes much sense given the familial relationship between Ascensius and Petit.
Athanasius: Index Aurel. 109.388; Moreau, II, 1982. Basil: Index Aurel. 114.440; Renouard, Ascensius, II, 145/146; Moreau, II, 2246. Alum-tawed pigskin, elaborately tooled in blind over wooden boards with metal and leather clasps; one clasp perished. Binding with one corner tip broken off; small hole in leather on rear board; dust-soiled. Inside, some early marginalia and underlining in red; narrow arc of old, light waterstaining to fore-edges of one part. Pages generally very clean. (19915)
A
PRB&M “FEATURED BOOK”
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Spanish
City of God
Augustinus, Aurelius, Saint.
La ciudad de Dios. Amberes: Geronymo Verdussen, 1676. Folio. [4] ff., 582 pp., [1] f.
[SOLD]
Click the interior images for enlargements.

The rare second Spanish-language edition of St. Augustine's greatest work, The City of God. This translation from the original Latin into Spanish is the work of Antonio de Roys y Rozas and is a reprinting of the first edition which appeared in Madrid in 1614. According to NUC Pre-1956, only one library in the U.S. (Yale) holds a copy of this edition, and searches of OCLC and RLIN add only one other (Arizona). The title-page here is printed in black and red and bears a good impression of the Verdussen printer's device, with its crisply elegant lion. There are some lovely tailpieces and initials.
Provenance: Ownership inscription on front pastedown of Juan de Porras, dated Madrid, 1687; and another on the title-page of José de Quitana y Azevedo, an Audiencia judge, dated Santafé de Bogotá, 1732. Bookplate of a 20th-century American collector who lived for a while in Bogotá pictured.
Palau 28935; Peeters-Fontainas, Bibliographie des impressions espagnoles des Pays-Bas Méridionaux, 72. Contemporary limp vellum with remnants of button and loop closures. Title on spine in old ink; raised bands and remnants of a paper spine-label. Interior waterstaining and many pages dog-eared; half-title and title-page missing pieces, not affecting any text. Library stamp on title-page partially eradicated; charming old (20th-century) private bookplate inside front cover. (20850)

St. Augustine It is
NOT
Augustinus Aurelius, S. (pseudo). Pious breathings. Being the Meditations of St. Augustine, his Treatise of the love of God, Soliloquies, and Manual. To which are added, select contemplations from St. Anselm, & St. Bernard. London: S. Sprint, T. Bennet, R. Parker, J. Bullord, & M. Gilliflower, 1701. 8vo (20.7 cm, 8.1"). [10], 414 pp. (pagination 177/78 skipped, 209/10 repeated, text complete); 4 plts.
$325.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition of this translation by George Stanhope, dean of Canterbury and an acclaimed preacher. Although Stanhope and the title-page attribute the first four items to St. Augustine, the works were not written by that saint — the accompanying pieces by St. Anselm and St. Bernard, however, are correctly assigned.
The volume is illustrated with a frontispiece and three other copper-engraved plates done by “I. Simons.”
ESTC T97614. Contemporary speckled calf framed and panelled in blind with contrasting plain calf panel and blind-tooled corner fleurons, rebacked with speckled calf, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; sides abraded. Contemporary inked ownership inscription to back of frontispiece and similarly old small inked notation (monogram?) to title-page; ; title-page institutionally rubber-stamped at base (no other markings). Pages age-toned; intermittent light spotting and staining. (24438)
Aunt Rose and her nieces. Troy, NY: Moore & Nims, [ca. 1850]. 32mo (5 cm, 2"). 64 pp.
$100.00
Early printing of this miniature book, in which Aunt Rose imparts Christian lessons to little Amy and Anne.
Binding: Publisher’s color-illustrated wrappers, chromolithographed by F. Motas, Philadelphia.
Binding as above, spine reinforced with cellophane tape, corners and edges worn, back wrapper creased. Sewing going; pages slightly age-toned, otherwise clean, with a few corners dog-eared.

Dutch Opinions on the
Spanish Inquisition
Avontroot, Johannes Bartholomeus. Den grouwel der verwoestinghe, oft grondich bericht ende ontdeckinghe, van de gronden der Spaensche inquisitie. In s'Graven-haghe: Aert Meuris, 1621. 4to (19.7 cm, 7.75"). [28], 212 pp.
$1275.00
Scarce first edition of this anti-Catholic Dutch treatise on the Inquisition, attributed to Avontroot (or Avontrot) by Universiteitsbibliotheek Amsterdam.
Avontroot was executed by the Inquisition at Toledo in 1632.
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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