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Tag Archives: Martin Luther

Book of the Week — Von er Lenhard Keiser ynn Byern vmb des euangelij…

06 Monday Nov 2017

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Bible, Bishop of Passau, cherubim, clemency, confession, consolation, doctrine, Elector John of Saxony, execution, garlands, Georg Lemberger, Hans Lufft, heresies, Leonhard Kaiser, letter, Lutheran, Martin Luther, martyrdom, papacy, printer, purgatory, Raab, sacraments, saints, Wittenberg, woodcut


“Also mein allerliebster bruder, sterck dich ynn dem Hern und sey gestrost ynn seiner mechtigen krafft, auff das du erkennest, tragest, liebest, und lobest aus gutwilligem hertzen, den veterlichen willen Gottes. Du werdest ledig odder nicht. Das du aber solches vermogest zu ehren seines heyligen Evangelii, das wolle ynn dir wircken der Vater unsers Herrn Jhesu Christi, nach dem reichtumb seiner herlichen gnaden, der ein Vater ist der barmhertzickeit und ein Gott alles trosts.” — Martin Luther

So, my beloved brother, strengthen yourself in the Lord and be confident in His mighty strength so that you recognize, carry, love, and praise with a glad heart the fatherly will of God. You will be free or not. Because you had the ability to honor his holy gospel, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ will produce in you, after the wealth of his glorious grace, the understanding that He is a merciful Father and a God of consolation. — Loose translation by Jon Bingham

Von er Lenhard Keiser ynn Byern vmb des Euangelij…
Martin Luther (1483-1546)
Wittemberg: Hans Lufft, 1528
First edition

Leonhard Kaiser (1480-1527) studied at Wittenberg. He spread Martin Luther’s message through letters and books that he sent to friends. While visiting his dying father in Raab (Upper Austria), in 1527, he was arrested, imprisoned and interrogated. Kaiser had been openly preaching Lutheran doctrine. Charges against him included teaching justification through faith alone and other heresies; including his disapproval of confession and other sacraments, freedom of will, purgatory, the invocation of saints and the power of the papacy.

While Kaiser was in prison, Luther sent him a letter of consolation. Kaiser was burned at the stake in Bavaria on August 16, 1527.

This volume contains Luther’s letter to Kaiser, and a preface and conclusion by Luther; and a letter from Elector John of Saxony to the Bishop of Passau appealing for clemency on Kaiser’s behalf. The author of the account of the martyrdom itself is unknown. Kaiser’s execution quickly became infamous. This text was reprinted nine times in quick succession.

The printer, Hans Lufft, printed the first complete edition of Luther’s Bible.

A woodcut title border by Georg Lemberger contains architectural elements, garlands, and cherubim.


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Book of the Week — Eine Hochzeit Predigt, Uber den Spruch zun…

30 Monday Oct 2017

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adultery, boredom, curiosity, Hans Weiss, Hebrews 13:4, lust, marriage, Martin Luther, sanctity, sermon, wedding, Wittenberg


“For no adornment is above the Word of God, through which you look upon your wife as a gift from God.”

Eine Hochzeit Predigt, Uber den Spruch zun…
Martin Luther (1483-1546)
Wittenberg: Hans Weiss, 1531
First edition

This is a wedding sermon preached by Martin Luther for an unnamed couple on January 8, 1531, on Hebrews 13:4: “Marriage should be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled; for God will punish whores and adulterers.” Luther’s sermon is a dark warning, at a presumably joyous occasion, to beware the temptations of boredom, curiosity, and shameful lust as threats to the sanctity of married life.

Luther wrote: “Those who are outside the marital estate and lead immoral lives, such as pimps, think marriage is nothing, but they despise and denigrate both God’s word and this estate, no matter how pious they pretend to be.” The married couple “are to make sure that they are careful to keep the marriage bed pure and unstained, which means that the wife keeps to her husband and the husband lets himself be contented with his wife.” Where this does not happen, God’s word, the beautiful jewel, is befouled with the devil’s filth and the marital bed is stained…” If, instead, one is mindful of God’s word, it will “create fear and hesitation, or actually loathing and horror” at the thought of adultery.

God’s word “will adorn your wife, so that even if she is hideous and hostile, impatient and obstinate, she will be more dear to you because of the word, and will please you more than if she were adorned with vanity and gold.” From the gutter of adultery and the horror of an odious wife, Luther elevates and edifies the beset husband: “For no adornment is above the Word of God, through which you look upon your wife as a gift from God.”


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Book of the Week — Bulla Cene Domini

23 Monday Oct 2017

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bull, excommunication, Fraticeli, German, heretics, Hussites, Martin Luther, Maundy Thursday, Melchior Lotter, papacy, Pope Leo X, Roman Catholic Church, translation, Wittenberg, Wycliffites

“Denn nach dem wir erlitten haben, so viel Bullen kremer: Cardinel, Legaten, Commissarien, Untercommissarien, Ertzbischoff, Bishoff, Abte, Prebste, Dechant, Dorthumpte Herrn, Priors, Gardianten, Stacionirer, Terminierer, stifft boten, klosterboten, capellen boten, alter boten, glocken boten, turn boten. Und wer kundt die rotte solcher schynder und schlinder all ertzelen? … Aber ich halt das sie nicht dein urfach gewesen, sondern das sichs hat zu mit auf ein trunken abend solch latin zu reden. Zu der Zeit wenn die Zunge auf steltzen geht und die vornunft mit halben segel ferret.”

“For after which we have suffered the clamor of so many Bulls: Cardinals, Legates, Commissioners, Under Commissioners, First Bishops, Bishops, Abbots, Priests, Lords, Priors, Stationers, monastery messengers, convent messengers, chapel messengers, alter messengers, and bell messengers. And who can explain the speech of such harassing stuff? … But I believe their origin has not been this, but rather they were begun on a drunken evening when such Latin was being spoken. At a time when the tongue was lifted up and the future was explored with half a sail.” — loose translation by Jon Bingham

BULLA CENE DOMINI DAS IST: DIE BULLA VOM…
Wittenberg: Melchior Lotter, 1523
Fifth edition
BV824 C37 1523

The first edition of this bull was printed by Melchior Lotter in 1522. Martin Luther (1483-1546) was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church on January 3, 1521. On April 15, Maundy Thursday, Pope Leo X published the bull “Consueverunt Romani Pontifices,” in which Luther’s name appeared for the first time on the Church’s list of heretics. Luther prepared this German translation of the bull with notes and an afterward. Luther, irony intended, dedicated the printing to Leo X as a “New Year’s gift.” Pope Leo died on December 21, 1521 and never received the gift.

Every Maundy Thursday the pope announced the excommunication of heretics, also naming the external enemies of the papacy. Bishops were required to publish these special bulls. In his 1521 bull, the pope included the Wycliffites, the Hussites, and the Fraticeli along with Luther. Luther entitled his response, the translation and printing in German of the bull, “Bull of the Supper-devouring Most Holy Lord, the Pope.” Luther commented that the bull could only have been written by a drunk.

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Your Dissertation Here !

10 Monday Aug 2015

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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Tags

Aldus Manutius, Basel, Bible, Byzantine, Cambridge, England, English, Erasmus, Froben, German, Greek, John Colet, Latin, Latin Vulgate, Martin Luther, New Testament, Nikolaus Gergel, Roman Catholic Church, Thomas More (1478-1535), University of Utah, Venice, Western European, William Tyndale

frontispiece

NOUUM TESTAMENTUM GRAECE
Argentorati : Apud Vuolfium Cephalaeum, 1524
BS1965 1524

First edition, first printing in octavo of the Erasmus New Testament in Greek. This edition, in its compact format, was much more affordable than Froben’s earlier editions, two facts that arguably gave Erasmus’ translation greater societal impact. The text closely follows the Nikolaus Gergel edition of 1521, the second edition of the Erasmus Greek New Testament.

Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) took monastic vows at the age of twenty-five. An independent scholar, he spent time at Cambridge where he befriended John Colet (1467-1519) and Thomas More (1478-1535) during a time of great stress in the English Church. He spent three years in Venice working as an editor in the publishing house of Aldus Manutius (1449-1515). He later worked with printer Johannes Froben (1460-1527) in Basel.

Vvovlivs spreadBioE Toy Arioy Eyar spread

While in England, Erasmus began a systematic examination of available manuscript copies of the New Testament. His resulting Greek New Testament, with Latin in parallel column, was first published by Froben in 1516. The 1516 Greek-Latin New Testament was used as a primary source for Martin Luther’s translation of the New Testament into German (1522), and for William Tyndale’s translation of the New Testament into English (1526).

Although Erasmus was criticized by later scholars for not having used all available manuscript copies of the Greek New Testament and for not using Byzantine copies, his translation is noted as the first Western European attempt to find a truer translation of the New Testament than that of the fourth century Latin Vulgate, the translation used almost exclusively by the Roman Catholic Church. The translation re-introduced the study of Greek biblical manuscripts and other Greek works on the Bible into Western Europe.

Page3 Page28

Only ten copies of this edition and printing are listed in WorldCat. University of Utah copy has extensive marginalia in multiple contemporary or just post-contemporary hands (possibly four) throughout.

 

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Book of the Week – Martin Luther

15 Monday Jun 2015

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Albrecht Dürer, biblical commentary, Christ, copyright, Germany, halo, Hans Bauldung Grien, historiated woodcut, Holy Roman Empire, homilies, Johann Schott, Latin, lions, Martin Luther, Medieval Europe, Otto Brunfel, portrait, Postil, proprietary law, putti, Reformation, Roman Catholic, Roman Catholic Church, sainthood, sermons, stags, Strasbourg, title page, title page border, unicorns, Wittenberg, woodcut border, woodcuts


XIII. PREDIG. NEWLICH…ANNO XXIII. ANHENGIG DEN…
Martin Luther (1483-1546)
Strasbourg: Johann Schott, 1523
Second edition
BR332 S3 1523

A copy from one of only two editions of this collection of thirteen sermons by Martin Luther. The collection of sermons was a supplement to “Twenty Seven Sermons” (1523). These two collections, along with “Fourteen Fine Christian Sermons” (1522) were part of one of the most important projects of Luther’s career: the creation of a Postil for the reformed church.

Luther wrote his sermons in a piecemeal fashion. His Postil was printed a few pieces at a time. “Thirteen Sermons” is from the early period of his Postil composition. The early printed sermons represent Luther’s own vision for the Postil. Editorial changes were made by reform Lutheran leaders after his death.

“Postil” was originally a term used in Medieval Europe for biblical commentary, derived from the Latin term “post ill verba textus” (after these words). “Postil” later referred to homiletic exposition as opposed to thematic sermonizing. By the mid-fourteenth century, the term was applied to an annual cycle of homilies.

In early sixteenth century Roman Catholic preaching, especially in Germany, postils were commonly used. Luther began publishing his Postil (that is, his suggested annual series of homilies) in Wittenberg in 1521, as replacements for those used by the Roman Catholic Church.

This edition is illustrated with a historiated woodcut title-page border, thought to be by Hans Bauldung Grien, a student of Albrecht Dürer, which includes printer Schott’s monogram, putti, unicorns, lions, and stags. A full-page portrait of Luther by Grien faces the title-page. A small image of Christ appears on the title-page. The penultimate leaf has a four-part woodcut border, also attributed to Grien. The portrait of Luther is of particular interest.

The original portrait, first published by Schott in 1521, included a halo surrounding Luther’s head (signifying sainthood). The fact that the halo was removed in a second edition printed only two years later suggests the swiftness of Reformation theological departure from Roman Catholic notions of the spiritual power of church leaders.

Printer Johann Schott was famous for using excellent woodcuts by noted artists of the day, including students of Dürer. In 1533, he took another printer to court over the reprinting of one of his illustrated books (Otto Brunfels’s herbal). The case is the first reprint suit documented in the Holy Roman Empire, an example of how the commerce of printing changed notions of proprietary law, i.e. copyright, for the written word and for art; authors and artists; and, of course, publishers.

alluNeedSingleLine

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A Donation Makes Poly Poly’s

26 Wednesday Nov 2014

Posted by rarebooks in Donations

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agriculture, alphabet, Amsterdam, anatomy, Antonio Blado, Antwerp, architecture, astrology, astronomy, Barbara Chavira, Basel, Bible, Bonaventura Elzevir, bookbinders, booksellers, celibacy, censored, Christianity, Christopher Plantin, commerce, creation, Daniel Elzevir, Elizabeth Isengrin, England, English, engraved, Ethiopian Church, Europe, expurgated, fable, festivals, French, frontispiece, German, God, Greek, Hebrew, heresy, hunting, Index of Forbidden Books, indulgences, initials, Italian, italic, Judaism, King Arthur, Latin, law, Leonhart Fuchs, libraries, Louis Elzevir, Lucovico Arrighi, Lyons, magic, Martin Luther, mathematics, medicine, Michael Isengrin, minerology, monks, music, navigation, paganism, painting, pharmacology, physics, Polydore Vergil, Pope Gregory XIII, priest, printer, printing, Protestant, Rare Books Division, Reformation, religion, Roman, Roman Catholic Church, Rome, Salt Lake City Public Library, Shakespeare, Spanish, sports, theater, Thomas Guarin, Tournai, trade, typography, Utrecht, vellum, vignettes, weaponry, winemaking, writing

The Salt Lake City Public Library donated a sixteenth century book to the Rare Books Division, thanks to the well-trained eye of City Library staffer Barbara Chavira. Barbara worked part-time in the Rare Books Division for many years. Her passion for the art of books, in all forms and over the centuries, brought us this important and welcome addition to the rare book collections. Thank you, Barbara ! Thank you, City Library !

PA8585-V4-D4-1576-a4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

POLYDORI VIRGILII VRBINATIS DE RERVM INVENTORIBVS…
Romae, apud haeredes antonij, Bladij, Impressores Camerales: Anno. M.D. LXXVI (1576)

Polydore Vergil (ca. 1470-1555), an Italian priest, spent much of his life in England. He is recognized for his history of England, a work that Shakespeare is known to have used as one of his sources. Vergil used critical analysis in his narration of historical events. His thesis that King Arthur was little more than fable, for instance, shocked contemporary readers.

It is his second published work, however, for which he was best known in his time. First printed in 1499, De rerum inventoribus (On Discovery), was a work unlike anything that had been published before. An inventory of historical “firsts,” it combined a wide array of subjects in an attempt to determine which individual or culture first invented things such as the alphabet, astronomy, magic, printing, libraries, hunting, festivals, writing, painting, weaponry and religion. Vergil culled much of his work from a wide range of ancient and contemporary writers. He focused on the genius of man in the origin or invention of all things – heretical thinking at the time.

In Book I he investigated the creation of the world, the origin of religion, the origin of the concepts of “god” and the word “God.” He suggested that much of Christianity had been adapted from Judaism or Roman paganism. Books II and III were studies of a wide-range of topics, mostly concerning the practical and mechanical arts including anatomy, astrology, law, medicine, commerce, mathematics, mineralogy, music, pharmacology, physics, trade, agriculture, architecture, sports, theater, navigation, and winemaking. The work was translated into French in 1521, German in 1537, English in 1546, and Spanish in 1551.

In 1521, more than two decades after he wrote the first three books, and at the dawn of Martin Luther’s protestant reformation, Vergil added five more books concentrating on Christianity. Vergil reworked his discussion of Christianity in deference to the Roman Catholic Church, which objected to Vergil’s reference to religion as a matter of scientific investigation. In spite of this concession, Vergil anticipated the scientific approach to religion that would become the norm a century later. The intended salve to the church failed when Vergil criticized monks, priestly celibacy, and indulgences. In 1564 the work was declared heretical and all editions were added to the Index of Forbidden Books. However, the work was so popular that two censored editions were printed after the ban.

This 1576 expurgated edition was sanctioned by Pope Gregory XIII in its front matter.

PA8585-V4-D4-1576-a2

PA8585-V4-D4-1570-CaGlorius

It is significant that this edition was printed by the heirs of Antonio Blado’s shop.

PA8585-V4-D4-1576-titlepage

PA8585-V4-D4-1576-regestvm

Blado worked in Rome from 1515 to 1567 as a printer in the service of the papacy. He was well-known for his scholarly works in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew; and a 1549 document in Ethiopic type for the Ethiopian Church. Blado is also known for his use of an early italic type created by Ludovico Arrighi. The Rare Books Division holds five books printed by Antonio Blado.

This 1576 edition of Vergil joins an edition from 1570 and another from 1671, already in the rare book collections.

PA8585-V4-D4-1570-titlepagePA8585-V4-D4-1570-colophon

POLYDORI VERGILII VRBINATIS, DE RERUM INVENTORIBUS…
Polydore Vergil (1470? – 1555)
Basilea: 1570

Printer Thomas Guarin (1529-1592) was born in Tournai. He worked in Lyons as a bookseller, but by 1557 was in Basel, where he married Elizabeth Isengrin, the daughter of a printer. Guarin took over his father-in-law’s small press at Michael Isengrin’s death. Michael Isengrin had printed one of the many editions of De rerum inventoribus to be published in Vergil’s lifetime. Each of these editions contained significant variations. Isengrin printed Leonhart Fuchs’s sumptuous De Historia stirpivm. Along with the reprint of classical works, Guarin issued several editions of the Bible, published in both Latin and German, and one in Spanish. His printer’s device was a palm tree.

PA8585-V4-D4-1570-printersdevice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PA8585-V4-D4-1671-frontispiece

POLYDORI VERGILII URBINATIS, DE INVENTORIBUS RERUM…
Polydore Vergil (1470?-1555)
Amstelodami: apud Danielem Elzebirius, 1671

Daniel Elzevir came from a distinguished family of booksellers, bookbinders, printers and publishers. Louis Elzevir (1546-1617), a Protestant émigré, began the business in Antwerp in about 1565, after he left a job with Christopher Plantin’s print shop. The Elzevir enterprise became one of Europe’s largest printing houses. Louis’s sons expanded the business with branches in The Hague, Utrecht, and Amsterdam. The Amsterdam branch was established in 1638 by Louis III. His partner was Daniel Elzevir, son of Bonaventura Elzevir, son of Louis. Daniel continued the family reputation for fine typography and design work. This edition of De Rerum inventoribus also contains another of Vergil’s works, Prodigiis, written in 1526 but not printed until 1531. The engraved frontispiece for this edition includes the invention of printing as one of its main themes. Numerous carved initials and vignettes. Bound in contemporary vellum.

Shakespeare is coming! The First Folio will arrive at the City Library in October.

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