Contents: The books of the Bible and prologues are very close to the standard Paris sequence (f.1), omitting Psalms, and with a capitula list for Genesis; the Interpretations of Hebrew Names in the version from Aaz to Zuzim (f.167), alphabetised to the first two letters; preceded by added notes on the four types of biblical exposition (historical, tropological, anagogical, typological) and the seven rules of theology (f.
Strasbourg: Johann Knobloch, [?January] 1524, July 1524, March 1525
$85,000.00
Folio: Three volumes bound as one. 30.5 x 20.8 cm. Vol. I: [6], CLI, [1] lvs. Vol. II: [1], CXC, [1] lvs., Vol. III: LXXXVII lvs. Collation: Vol. I: i-vi, A-Z6, Aa6, Bb8 (Bb8 blank and present.) Vol. II: A-Z6, Aa-Ii6 (Ii6 blank and present). Vol III: A-C6, D4, E-P6
A fine set of an early printing of Luther's German Old Testament, profusely illustrated. The first volume of the Old Testament, including the Pentateuch, was first published at Wittenberg by Melchior Lotter, the Younger, for Lucas Cranach and Christian Döring,in mid-1523.
London: [by S. Mierdman] for Gwalter Lynne, dwellynge on Somers Keye, by Byllinges gate. And they are to be solde in Paules church yarde, nexte the great Schole, at the sygne of the sprede Egle, 1550
$10,900.00
Quarto: 19 x 12.7 cm. [8], cclxv, cclxvii-cclxxix, [13] leaves. Collation: *8, A-X8, Z8, Aa-Oo8, Pp4, (lacking blank leaf Nn8)
This is the first edition in English of the work known as “Carion’s Chronicle”, translated by Walter Lynne and dedicated to Edward VI. The work was first conceived of and written by Johann Carion (1499-1537/8), Professor of Mathematics in the University of Frankfurt am Oder, and for a time, court astrologer to Joachim I, Elector of Brandenburg. Carion sent the work to Philip Melanchthon for editing and correction.
Quarto: 19.8 x 14.5 cm. CXX leaves. Collation: a-p8
The rare 1524 Parisian “Praise of Folly”, printed by Erasmus’ friend, the scholar-printer Badius Ascensius, who printed the fourth edition in 1512. This edition differs markedly from the 1512 edition and contains all of the supplementary texts found in the Froben editions, including the dedicatory letter to Thomas More, whose name Erasmus plays upon cleverly in the title of the work; and the letter to Martin Dorp in which Erasmus explains his motives for writing the “Moria”: “My aim in the ‘Folly’ was exactly the same as in my other works.
Vander Haeghen I, 123; Kossmann 979; Bibl. Belgica E 866; (Not in Bezzel, De Reuck, or BM STC French); Renouard, Badius II, 424; Adams E 397. Inventaire chronologique des editions Parisiennes du XVIe siecle III, no. 669; Renouard, Imprimeurs Parisiens du XVIe siècle II, no. 539
Folio: 31.2 x 20 cm. [88], 3-874, [1] pp. A-d6, e8, f-g6, A-Z6, Aa-Zz6, Aaa-Zzz6, Aaaa-Dddd6 (last leaf is blank.)
A very rare Cologne edition of Erasmus’ beloved and extraordinarily influential “Adages”, first conceived as a collection of proverbial sayings drawn from the Latin authors of antiquity elucidated for the use of those who aspired to write an elegant Latin style. In its first incarnation, the “Adagia” consisted of about eight hundred proverbs. The present version, Erasmus' "Adagia Chiliades" (“Thousands of Adages”) is more than just a vastly expanded edition of that first enterprise: "
A glance at its composition reveals that the ‘Adagia Chiliades’ was in fact -as well as in name- a new book, and that Greek scholarship was largely responsible for the difference.
Basel: and Strasbourg: and Paris: Io. Froben, and Excusum per Renatu[m] Beck in aedibus zum Thiergarten, and Jean Petit, In vico Sancti Iacobi, 1515 and 1515 and 1513
$20,500.00
Large Quarto: 3 works bound in one volume: I. Piccolomini: i-iv, A-B4, C8, D-E4, F8, G-H4, I8, K-L4, M8, N-O4, P6. II. Lactantius: A6, B4, a-z8/4, A-D8/4, E6, F-N8/4, O6, P4. III. “Praise of Folly”: a-h4, a-z4, A-B4, C6
This edition includes the original dedicatory letter to Thomas More, whose name Erasmus plays upon cleverly in the title of the work; and the letter to Martin Dorp in which Erasmus explains his motives for writing the “Moria”: “My aim in the ‘Folly’ was exactly the same as in my other works. Only the presentation was different. In the ‘Enchiridion’ I simply outlined the pattern of a Christian life.
I. “Germania”: BM STC German p. 701 = Proctor 10307. Not in Adams. Panzer VI.75.410. Ritter 1878. Muller, Bibliographie Strasbourgeoise II, 228 no. 26. Schmidt (Beck) 21. II. Lactantius: Adams L-14; BSB-Ink L-13; HC 9819; Moreau, Inventaire chronologique II 637. III. “Praise of Folly”: Vander Haeghen I, 122; Kossmann 967; Bezzel 1304; Not in De Reuck; BM STC German p. 282; Adams E 392; VD, 16E 3184
Hans Greiffenberger was a Nuremberg painter who ran afoul of the authorities for both his art and for his subversive religious activism. In October 1524 he was investigated on the charge of creating an unsuitable and offensive painting and "because he seduces the people to a new sect." The artwork was described as "a shameful painting that he made against papal sanctity."
While he lacked the literary skills of Hans Sachs, Greiffenberger's works had a similar immediacy.
Quarto: 21 x 15.5 cm. xxxxvj, 195, [1] p. Collation: bb-nn, a-z, A4, B2
Written in 1521 in response to Martin Luther’s “The Babylonian Captivity of the Church” -the reformer’s radical exposition of the Protestant faith and attack on the papacy- Henry VIII’s “Defense of the Seven Sacraments” won for its author the coveted title of “Defensor Fidei” (Defender of the Faith) from Pope Leo X. Coming as it did from such a powerful Christian prince, Luther was forced to respond to Henry’s work, which he did with more than his usual severity, insulting the king and challenging his theological points.
A sermon for Lichtmeß (Candlemas), the feast of the presentation of the infant Jesus in the temple and the purification of Mary (February 2). Jesus takes as his text Luke 2:22-39.
For the complexities of Luther’s evolving Mariology, see Thomas O'Meara, Mary in Protestant and Catholic Theology (1966). “Luther's attitude toward the theology of Mary and toward the devotion which a Christian should have to the Mother of God is a small-scale representation of his entire religious accomplishment.
Quarto: 21 x 15.5 cm. a-r4 (lacking final blank leaf r4) 115 pp.
Luther's response to Ambrosius Catharinus Politus' (1487-1552) "Defense of the True Catholic and Apostolic Faith and Doctrine against the Disease-spreading Dogma of Martin Luther" (Florence, 1520). In his defense of papal supremacy, Catharinus also defends the opinions of Sylvester Mazolinus de Prierio (Prierius, d. 1523), Pope Leo X's theologian and the first man to censor Luther's works.
First edition of Luther’s response to the growing danger posed by the radical preacher Thomas Münzer, who was ultimately executed the following year for leading the violent, open revolt that came to be known as the Peasants’ War.
In 1523, Thomas Münzer, formerly the leader of the radical “Zwickau Prophets” began to radicalize the area of Allstedt, where he was then pastor, preaching that the ungodly were to be eliminated and the elect would establish a kingdom of Christ on earth and threatening the political rulers of the area with rebellion.
Luther wrote this letter in August 1522 to Hans von Rechenberg, a strong supporter of the Reformation and a man who distinguished himself in battle against the Turks. There is no evidence that Luther knew von Rechenberg personally but the question that Luther addresses in the letter, whether a person who dies without faith may be saved, seems to have been one of personal concern to the addressee.
“In December 1520 Jerome Emser renewed his attack on Luther with a lengthy treatise written against Luther’s famous address ‘To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation’(August 1520) entitled ‘Against the Un-Christian Book of the Augustinian Martin Luther.’ It prompted an immediate reply from Luther.
“Luther’s ‘To the Goat in Leipzig’ is the first of a series of four treatises that Luther wrote against Emser.
Luther wrote his “The Magnificat Translated into German and Explained” in two parts, the first composed before his appearance at the Diet of Worms and the second part while he was in hiding in the Wartburg in May and June 1521. Given that Luther’s vision of the church and of Mary’s nature and place within Christianity were evolving (and were to evolve much further over time), and the fact that Luther left the Diet a changed man living in changed circumstances, it is no wonder that Luther’s exposition of the Magnificat has been the subject of numerous conflicting interpretations.
Quarto: 19.8 x 14.7 cm. [38] pp. A-K4 (lacks final blank)
“But if they do not have self-control, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with desire.”-1 Corinthians 7:9
First edition of Luther’s important sermon on the problem of celibacy. Luther argued that sexual desire was inescapable for all but a handful, so it should be channeled into marriage. Vows of celibacy should be rendered void, and monasteries and convents should be closed or much reduced in size.
Quarto: 19 x 13.4 cm. [34] lvs. Collation: A-G4, H2, I4 (lacks blank I4)
“Luther’s commentary on Psalm 117, printed by George Rhau in October 1530, is a revision of an earlier version printed at the Coburg earlier in 1530. It is dedicated to Hans von Sternberg, who had taken a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and had told Luther about it. The German text includes Luther's German translation of Psalm 117 from the Hebrew O.T.
“This commentary is Luther’s critique of medieval spirituality, and includes an account of his own pilgrimage to Rome.
This is the German-language edition, translated by Justus Jonas the Elder, of Melanchthon’s “Causae quare et amplexae sint, et retinendam ducant doctrinam, quam profitentur, ecclesiae, quae Confessionem Augustae exhibitam imperatori sequuntur & quare iniquis iudicibus, collectis in synodo Tridentina, ut vocant, non sit adsentiendum”(1546), a work in which he defends the Augsburg Confession and condemns the newly convened Council of Trent.
First edition of Thomas More's reply to Simon Fish's "Supplication for the Beggars." Fish represented the clergy as "thieves," responsible for the distress of the poor; he denies the existence of Purgatory and, appealing to Henry VIII in the voice of the English beggars, calls for the dissolution of the monasteries. More counters each of Fish's arguments, and using Fish's own literary device against him, has the very souls in Purgatory "supplicate" the living for the continuance of the prayers offered by the clergy for their release.
Quarto: 19.5 x 14 cm. [24]p. Collation: A-C4 (final blank and present)
Early in 1524 Hans Sachs employed the prose dialogue, recently revived by the humanists, in the service of contemporary polemics. It is generally acknowledged that his four Reformation dialogues of 1524 count among the best of the period.
In the first of these, "Disputation between a Shoemaker and a Canon", a simple cobbler brings a new pair of shoes to the home of a Church canon.
Hans Sachs was a poet, playwright, writer of dialogues, and an accomplished Meistersinger of the Nuremberg School (Sachs is the title character of Wagner’s “Meistersinger”). A shoemaker and guild master by trade, Sachs was an ardent supporter of Luther and the Reformation. Sachs’ songs, plays, and dialogues address the social concerns of his day and the effects of the Reformation on the established social order.
