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Tag Archives: Protestant

Banned! La ligue, ou, Henry le Grand: Poemes Epique

25 Tuesday Sep 2018

Posted by rarebooks in Uncategorized

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censors, Civil War, France, French, Geneve, Henri IV, king, Mokpap, monarch, poem, Protestant, religious toleration, Rouen, royal, Viret, Voltaire

La ligue, ou, Henry le Grand: Poemes Epique
Voltaire
A Geneve: Chez Jean Mokpap, MDCXXIII (1723)
PQ2080 H4 1723

This epic poem was first published in 1723 as a pirated edition of 216 pages, followed by a genuine first edition of 231 pages. In spite of the imprint, the pirated edition was published in Rouen, at the press of Viret, not in Geneva by Jean Mokpap (a made-up name).

La Ligue, later enlarged to become La Henriade, contained what censors deemed heresy. Voltaire lovingly portrayed Henri IV, the French monarch who brought France’s civil wars to an end. In the poem, Voltaire treats the king as the forerunner of religious toleration, depicting him as a liberal who supported the Protestant cause.

Royal censors demanded suppressions to the poem that Voltaire refused to make. He took the manuscript to Rouen where it was printed in secret.

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From a Friend, “The Friend”

25 Wednesday Jul 2018

Posted by rarebooks in Donations

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American Seamen's Friend Society, Bethel Union Church, Board of Hawaiian Evangelical Association, cannibal, Fatuhiwa, Hawaii Conference-United Church of Christ, Hawaiian, Hawaiian Board, Honolulu, Koolau, Lalahina, Marquesas Islands, Matunui, Maui, Micronesia, missionaries, Missionary, Pacific Ocean, Protestant, Rev. James H. Kekela, Rev. S. Kauwealoha, Woman's Board of Missions


Among the people to whom the present number of The Friend will come will be many who have never before seen it, or even heard of its existence. Its apology for appearing so unceremoniously among strangers is the fact that the recognition of two somewhat notable events seems to be called for at this time. The first of these is its own sixtieth anniversary, which occurs with this month’s issue. This marks one important milestone in a longer span of life than can be claimed by any other paper in these Islands or on the Mainland west of the Rocky Mountains. from The Friend, Vol. LX, No. XII, December, 1902

Rare Books is the happy recipient of a gift of a set of issues of The Friend, from our generous friend, Lou Weinstein. The donated set begins with a July 6, 1870 issue and ends with the March 1946 issue.

The first issue of The Friend was published in January 1842, originally under the name Temperance Advocate. After a number of variant name changes, The Friend became the official name beginning January 1, 1845. The newspaper began as a monthly periodical for seamen and included news from American and English newspapers. Gradually, the monthly expanded to feature announcements, advertisements, reprints of sermons, poetry, local news, editorials, arrivals and departures, marriages, and obituaries.

The paper was published by the Reverence Samuel Chenery Damon, who was sent by the American Seamen’s Friend Society to be chaplain in Honolulu. He was the pastor of the Bethel Union Church, Seamen’s Chapel for 42 years and editor of The Friend from 1843 to 1885. Under Reverend Damon, nearly one million copies of the newspaper were distributed.


The author imagines herself seated near the shore, where the waves of old ocean came rolling in from the main…”

The newspaper came under the editorship of the Board of Hawaiian Evangelical Association in April, 1902 where it remained until June 1954. Since then, it has continued under various names under the Hawaii Conference-United Church of Christ.


In March, 1853, a year after the founding of the mission to Micronesia, a chief named Matunui from one of the Marquesas Islands arrived at Lalahina in a whale ship with a son-in-law of his, who was a native of the island of Maui. He was from the island of Fatuhiwa, and came to ask that missionaries might be sent to his country to teach the people about the true God. He desired white Protestant missionaries, but would be thankful if he could secure some native Hawaiian teachers. This call sent a thrill through the native Hawaiian churches, and, under the inspiration of the true missionary spirit, gave liberally of their means, for sending forth a native Hawaiian mission to those islands. Not only did they give of their money but two of the best men of the land, Rev. James H. Kekela, and Rev. S. Kauwealoha, with their wives, volunteered to go as missisonaries for the blessing and uplifting of the most savage cannibal islanders of the Pacific Ocean. — Vol. LX, No. XII, December 1902


Mr. and Mrs. Poepoe have come from Hawaii to have charge of the work in the Koolau area under the auspices of the Hawaiian Board and the Woman’s Board of Missions. –Vol. CXVI, No. 3, March, 1946

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Book of the Week — Clavis Historia Thuanae

07 Monday May 2018

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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archivists, curia, Edict of Nantes, Edward Gibbon, England, French Enlightenment, French Revolution, Geneva, Germany, heresy, humanism, Index of Prohibited Books, Jac, Jacques Auguste de Thou, Jacques Dupuy, Keeper of the Royal Library, librarians, Parlement, philosophes, Portugal, Protestant, rare books, Roman Catholic, scholars, Spain, vellum, Voltaire, William Pitt

Clavis historiae thuanae: id est, nomenclature…
Jacques Dupuy (1591-1656)
Ratisponae: Sumtibus J. Z. Seidelii, 1696
Editio altera
D228 T552

Originally published in Geneva in 1634, this revised edition includes the word “Clavis” as the beginning of its title. The title translated into English reads: Nomenclature of Proper Names in the Historical Work of Jacques Auguste de Thou. Thou (1553-1617) was a historian whose fame and acclaim lasted well into the nineteenth century. His “History of His Own Time” (Historiarum sui temporis libri CXXXVIII) was added to the Index of Prohibited Books in 1609 for its humanist bent.

In spite of the ban and the humanism, his work received praise across the Roman Catholic/Protestant spectrum from Spain and Portugal to England and Germany. It was read by the curia it condemned and was a favorite of the Philosophes of the French Enlightenment. Voltaire referred to the “truthful eloquence” of Thou several times in his works. William Pitt quoted Thou, “the great historian of France,” in the early years of the French Revolution, and historian Edward Gibbon referred to Thou as the “authority of my masters.”

Thou was a leading member of Parlement. A Roman Catholic, he nonetheless counted many Protestants as his friends and helped negotiate the Edict of Nantes. He was appointed the Keeper of the Royal Library. His own library contained nearly 6,000 volumes, vast even by the standards of a private library-owning upper class. His “History” appeared in parts between 1604 and 1610. But the work was considered heresy in that it failed to condemn all Protestants outright. For this he fell from royal and papal favor.

The other indexer of Thou’s history was Jacques Dupuy, one of the many archivists and librarians who organized meetings of scholars at Thou’s home and, here, organized his book.

Rare Books copy bound in vellum, using loose leaves from another work. Pages are in double column format.

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Book of the Week — Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant

20 Monday Feb 2017

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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American Civil War, bankruptcy, cancer, Catholic, editor, Gertrude Stein, Jew, Julius Caesar, Mark Twain, memoirs, military, New York, peace, politics, President, Protestant, Samuel Clemens, stenographer, Ulysses S. Grant, Union, veterans, war, Webster

E672-G67-1885-v.1-portrait

“‘Let us have peace.’ The expressions of these kindly feelings were not restricted to a section of the country, nor to a division of the people. They came from individual citizens of all nationalieties; from all denominations — the Protestant, the Catholic, and the Jew; and from the various societies of the land — scientific, educational, religious, or otherwise. Politics did not enter into the matter at all.”

PERSONAL MEMOIRS OF U. S. GRANT
Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885)
New York: C. L. Webster & Co., 1885-86
First edition
E672 G76 1885

An ineffectual, if not disastrous, president, ruined by bankruptcy after being defrauded of his estate, and dying of throat cancer, Ulysses S. Grant, Union hero of the American Civil War, agreed to publish his memoirs. He needed the money to try to secure an economically stable future for his family.

Samuel Clemens, whose pen name was Mark Twain, served as his editor. In the last month of his life, Grant struggled to dictate his notes to a stenographer and managed to finish his memoirs shortly before his death. For Clemens, witnessing the tenacity of the dying man, Grant became, once more, a heroic figure.

The memoirs focused almost entirely on the old general’s actions during the war. Still considered among the greatest of military memoirs, the two volume set became an immediate bestseller, praised for its high literary qualities. Grant’s style was straightforward and compelling. Clemens compared the book to Julius Caesar’s Commentaries. Gertrude Stein admired the book and said that she could not think of Grant without weeping.

His Memoirs were a financial and critical success. Thousands of war veterans and their families made a ready market for the book. Grant’s family, who received seventy-five percent of the royalties, quickly re-established their fortune, receiving nearly a half million dollars from the book.

E672-G76-1885-v.2-Portrait

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Book of the week — Biblia sacra

11 Monday Jul 2016

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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Apostles, Bible, brass clasps, classical scholar, decorative headbands, engravings, Exodus, France, Franciscus Stephanus, François Estienne, François Perrin, French, Geneva, Geneva Bible, Greek, Henri Estienne, horseback, initials, John Calvin, Kings, Latin, linguist, Lyon, maps, Margaret Cave, New Testament, Normandy, Paris, Petrum Santandreanum, Pierre Saint-André, pigskin, printer, Protestant, Robert Estienne, roll-tooled, Tabernacle, tail pieces, University of Utah, woodcuts

Biblia-Sacra-title

BIBLIA SACRA VETERIS ET NOUI TESTAMENTI…
Geneuae: Apud Petrum Santandreanum, MDLXXXIII. 1583
BS75 1583

A reissue, with a different title page, of an edition of François Estienne, Geneva, 1567. The title page of the New Testament bears the imprint: Ex Officina Francisci Stephanii, 1567. This edition was printed by Pierre Saint-André (1555-1624).

François Estienne was the third son of Robert Estienne (1503-1559), a French printer, linguist and classical scholar. In his father’s footsteps, François left France for Geneva as a follower of the Protestant movement. He was active as a printer between 1562 and 1582 in partnership with François Perrin, an associate of John Calvin. François Estienne issued a number of editions of the Bible in Latin and French, as well as works by Calvin. Some scholars believe that François emigrated to Normandy in 1582, where he married Margaret Cave. They had several children, none of whom survived to adulthood.

Robert Estienne’s fourth edition (1551) of the Bible is notable for being the first Latin Bible to be printed with verse numeration. Estienne designed the divisions to help the reader compare the two Latin translations and the Greek translation found in this edition. The fourth edition became the basis for the Geneva Bible. Estienne’s son Henri wrote that his father numbered the divisions while traveling “inter equitandum” from Paris to Lyon. Questionable verse divisions were later ascribed to the jolting of a ride on horseback. Although it is unlikely that Estienne was working while riding, the divisions appear to be hasty and distracted, a situation we can well imagine if Estienne was working on this project while traveling.

Text in double columns, with references, variants and section letters in the margins. Illustrated with two engraved folding maps, one in the New Old Testament and one in the New Testament; two full-page engraved maps; woodcuts of the Tabernacle and other images in Exodus and Kings, with occasional figures elsewhere; decorative headbands, tail-pieces and initial letters. The title-page for the New Testament has the woodcut device of Franciscus Stephanus. University of Utah copy bound in contemporary pigskin over wooden boards, covers with roll-tooled decoration, featuring portraits of the Apostles; brass clasps and catches; old paper spine labels.

Bibla-Sacra-EgyptMap

Bibla-Sacra-Mediterraneanseamap

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Book of the Week — He Kaine Diatheke

04 Monday Apr 2016

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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Antoine Augereau, Aristotle, astrology, Bible, bibliographer, binding, Book of Hours, calendar, Calvin, Chartres, Christmas Eve, Cicero, classics, cosmology, Demarruello, Estienne, Euclid, France, French, Garamond, Geoffroy Tory, Gothic, Greek, Greek New Testament, Henri Estienne, heresy, heretic, Hesiod, hinges, Hippocrates, Horace, Hore beate marie, indices, initials, italic, Latin, Louvain, Lutheran, New Testament, Ovid, Paris, Paris Parlement, pressed paper boards, printing, proof sheets, Protestant, putti, R. Peter, Renaissance, repair, Robert Estienne I, Roman Catholic, signatures, Simon de Colines, Sophocles, subheadings, Terence, The University of Utah, theological, tools, typeface, typefounder, University of Paris, Virgil, woodcut

Title page

“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” — Hebrews 8:11, New King James Version

HE KAINE DIATHEKE
Paris: [Antoine Augereau for] Simon de Colines, [29 November or 22 December] 1534
BS1965 1534

This is the first Greek New Testament printed in France. Simon de Colines edited the text, using printed and manuscript sources. To save his own neck, Colines hid the involvement of the book’s printer, Protestant typefounder Antoine Augereau. Augereau was condemned as a heretic, hung, and then burned at the stake on Christmas Eve 1534, only a few days after finishing the printing of Ha Kaine Kiatheke.

In 1520, Colines married the widow of Henri Estienne, the founder of the distinguished Estienne press, and took charge of that press until Estienne’s son, Robert I, took over in 1526. Colines then set up his own shop nearby. He focused his publishing efforts on Greek and Latin classics – works by Aristotle, Cicero, Sophocles, Hesiod, Horace, Ovid, Virgil, Terence, Euclid, Hippocrates and others – works then considered the literary backbone of the civilized world. He added to the classics publications of anti-Lutheran theological writings and works by the faculty of the University of Paris. In all, Colines’ press produced at least seven hundred and fifty publications. Although not a scholar himself, he used his considerable familiarity with the Estienne publications and extended his own press to include writings on the natural sciences, cosmology, and astrology.

Colines was an important part of the development of book and reading structure in Renaissance printing. It was during this time that chapter headings, subheadings, running heads, page numbers, tables of content, indices and source notes became elemental fixtures in the publication of texts.

Pg210

Colines designed his own italic and Greek fonts and a roman typeface from which Garamond type was derived. He was one of the earliest printers to mix italic fonts with roman typefaces. During at least one of his printing projects, he worked with type designer Geoffroy Tory.

Ha Kaine Kiatheke is the first book printed in Simon de Colines’ second Greek font, including initial guide letters. The University of Utah copy has three lines (possibly an oath) written in an early hand in French and signed by “Demarruello.”

Inscription

It also contains the book plate of Calvin bibliographer R. Peter.

Pastedown

The University of Utah copy bound in contemporary tan calf blind decorated with an outer roll of foxes, winged putti, acanthus leaves and lilies, central rectangle with brazier and foliage tools.

FrontBoard

An earlier repair to the hinges of the binding revealed the following, making up the pressed paper boards: 28 leaves from Les choses co[n]tenues en ce present liure…Le contenu en ceste second partie du nouveau testament, Paris, S. de Colines 10 January 1524; and leaves from Hore beate marie [virgi]nis Secundu[m] vsum insignis ecclesia[?e] Cathedraiis Carnoten[sis]…, Paris, s.n., ca. 1511-1512.

The printed signatures found hidden in the binding appear to be proof sheets for the first Protestant French translation of the New Testament, second edition.

Leaf3

The printing of this edition was completed only months before the Paris Parlement condemned the work as heresy. Yet, the 1524 edition, due to its literary quality and scriptural analysis, served as the basis for nearly all future French versions throughout the century. Ironically, it also served as the 1550 Roman Catholic Louvain Bible.

The leaves from Hore beate…, which also formed part of the binding’s pressed boards, are from an unrecorded Latin-French Book of Hours for the use of Chartres, with a calendar for 1512-1520. The type is Gothic, printed in red and black and includes two-line woodcut initials.

Leaf2

Leaf1

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We recommend – Religion of a Different Color: Race and the Mormon Struggle for Whiteness

25 Thursday Jun 2015

Posted by rarebooks in Recommended Reading

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citizenship, history, Mitt Romney, Mormon, Mormonism, Mormons, New York, Oxford University Press, polygamy, Protestant, race, racial, religion, The University of Utah, United States, W. Paul Reeve


Religion of a Different Color: Race and the Mormon Struggle for Whiteness
W. Paul Reeve
New York: Oxford University Press, 2015

The Protestant white majority in nineteenth-century United States was convinced that Mormonism represented a racial – not merely religious – departure from the mainstream and they spent considerable effort attempting to deny Mormon whiteness. Being white equaled access to political, social, and economic power, all aspects of citizenship in which outsiders sought to limit or prevent Mormon participation. At least a part of those efforts came through persistent attacks on the collective Mormon body, ways in which outsiders suggested that Mormons were physically different, racially more similar to marginalized groups than they were white. Medical doctors went so far as to suggest that Mormon polygamy was spawning a new race. Mormons responded with aspirations toward whiteness. It was a back and forth struggle between what outsiders imagined and what Mormons believed. Mormons ultimately emerged triumphant, but not unscathed. A portion of the cost of their struggle came at the expense of their own black converts. Mormon leaders moved away from universalistic ideals toward segregated priesthood and temples, policies held firmly in place by the early twentieth century. So successful were they at claiming whiteness for themselves, that by the time Mormon Mitt Romney sought the Presidency in 2012, he was labelled “The whitest white man to run for office in recent memory.” Mormons once again found themselves on the wrong side of white.

W. Paul Reeve is Associate Professor, History, The University of Utah.

BX8611-R44-2015-cover

alluNeedSingleLine

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Book of the Week – OF DIVORCE FOR ADULTERIE, AND MARRYING AGAINE…

11 Monday May 2015

Posted by rarebooks in Book of the Week

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adultery, Christian Directorie, divorce, Edmund Bunny (1540-1619), Edward VI, Elizabethan, English, Henry VIII, Holborne, Jesuit, John Barnes, marriage, Oxford, Protestant, Queen Mary, Richard Bunny (fl.1584), Robert Parsons (1546-1610), Roman Catholic Church, Stuart


OF DIVORCE FOR ADULTERIE, AND MARRYING AGAINE…
Edmund Bunny (1540-1619)
Oxford: Printed for John Barnes, and are to be sold neere Holborne, 1613
Second edition
HQ813 B86 1613

This controversial treatise objected to the judgments of the reformed church that a man could lawfully divorce (“put away”) his wife for adultery, and marry another. Historically the position of the Roman Catholic Church had been that former spouses could not remarry during each other’s lifetimes. The Elizabethan and Stuart divines who advocated full divorce in cases where adultery was at issue believed a marriage contracted after a decree of separation should be validated.

Edmund Bunny voiced his opposition to the then-established permission of the Roman Catholic Church for remarriage. Of the controversy, he said that the practice of divorce and remarriage was not unusual and used an unnamed but apparently important family of the time who had done just that.

The three-page appendix contains the final words in a long-running controversy between Bunny and Robert Parsons (1546-1610), an English Jesuit priest. Parsons, author of The Christian Directorie, was incensed when Edmund Bunny published an expurgated or, by Roman Catholic thinking, pirated, Protestant edition in 1584. Parsons launched a vitriolic attack on the Protestant edition and its author, Bunny, denouncing what he called “this shameless shift of corrupting other men’s books.” An argument in print ensued, lasting through a 1589 revised version of Parson’s work by Bunny, a response by Parsons in 1607, an answer by Bunny in June 1610 in the appendix to the first edition of this book.

Bunny got the last word. Parsons died in April of the same year. Edmund Bunny’s father, Richard Bunny (fl. 1584) served Henry VIII and Edward VI and, as a Protestant, suffered under Queen Mary. Edmund was disinherited by his father when he announced his intention to enter the Roman Catholic Church.

alluNeedSingleLine

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A Donation Makes Poly Poly’s

26 Wednesday Nov 2014

Posted by rarebooks in Donations

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

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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Recent Posts

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