WORLDWIDE CATHOLICA

Catholic Bible Studies  

•  First American edition. The author was a bishop in England and leader of the Catholic Emancipation movement. Click the interior image for an enlargement.

•  Parsons 655; Shoemaker 2272. Treed sheep, red spine label, gilt ruling on spine. Edges rubbed and abraded, refurbished; front joint and hinge expertly reinforced; now nice. Ex-Georgetown University with stamps on title-page; some old dog-ears and spots.

Milner, John. A brief summary of the history and doctrine of the Holy Scriptures. Philadelphia: Eugene Cummiskey, 1821. 8vo. [1] f., 278 pp.
$155.00

•  Second American edition (the first, above, was 1820).

•  Parsons 680; Shoemaker 6058. Treed sheep, red spine-label; gilt ruling on spine. Joints open and covers going; edges rubbed and abraded. Foxed. Georgetown marks in pencil on front free endpaper.

Published inHoly Trinity, ALABAMA 

•  Contains 11 issues as follows: January to April, 1931; June to October, 1931; and November to December, 1930. Each issue is 32 pages. Official organ of the Missionary Servants of the Most Blessed Trinity. The name changed to Holy Ghost Messenger in the July 1931 issue.

Scarce: OCLC records only one holding of another issue.

•  Half leather over marbled paper boards, stamped with gilt rolls and lettering, rubbed and spine slightly cocked; leather with some loss at spine extremities, corners, and over back joint. Bookplate of a Catholic seminary library on front pastedown, rubber-stamp on free endpapers, ink numeral on first leaf and rear free endpaper, properly deaccessioned. Tiny chip to upper outer corners throughout; light, even faint, waterstaining to lower corners and outer margins. Pleasanter in hand and under eye than it sounds, this isan interesting snapshot of early-'30s Catholic life in, and as viewed from, the American South.  (17149)

The Anglican Church as theHeir of the Church of Antiquity

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•  First edition: Doctrinal discussion by Richard Montagu (or Mountague), Bishop of Norwich. A controversial theologian, Montagu sought to moderate between the extremes of Catholicism and Calvinism, with his stated goal being to support the Anglican Church by standing “in the gapp against Puritanisme and Popery” (Correspondence of John Cosin, 1.21). Allibone, however, joins many of the bishop's contemporaries in feeling that “There is no doubt as to the place where Bishop Montagu desired to go and to carry with him the king and the Church of England, — to the bosom of the Church of Rome.”

In the present work Montagu examines Jewish doctrine and practices before the birth of Jesus, and their implications for Christianity; in doing so he argues strongly against Casaubon, Scaliger, and other Protestant scholars, while defending the Catholic Baronius and his Annales Ecclesiastici. The dedication, written in Latin and Greek, is addressed to Jesus Christ.

•  Wing (rev. ed.) M2469; ESTC R3327; Allibone 1344.   Contemporary mottled calf, shellacked, covers framed and panelled in blind double fillets with blind-tooled corner fleurons, simply rebacked (without labels) with complementary mottled calf; board edges with gilt roll. Original leather rubbed, shellac showing small cracks, edge gilt mostly lost; title-page with small early inked addition to author's name and with inked numeral in lower margin. One early inked marginal annotation, one early inked doodle in lower margin. First and last few leaves with margins browned; light age-toning throughout; occasional foxing and spots of staining. Pagination interrupted, but collation matches ESTC.  (26206)

The FIRST ENTIRELY ENGRAVED Book
Printed inthe AMERICAS

Click the interior images for enlargements.

•  With this work Montes de Oca secured for himself the position of the most important and talented engraver in the New World at the beginning of the 19th century. He conceived andself-published this, the first entirely engraved book printed in the Americas.  In a series of 30 plates with captions he told the biography of St. Philip of Jesus (1572–97), the protomartyr of Japan.

This is a rare book with only nine U.S. libraries reporting ownership: Several of those copies are lacking either one, two, or three of the plates, and it is certain that the book was issued unbound, as a gathering of 31 individual leaves, thus accounting for copies with less than the “requisite” engraved title and 30 plates. This copy in fact confirms that the plates spent part of their lives unbound, as two of them are touched by small instances of worming that have not touched their next neighbors!

Montes de Oca's plates are particularly detailed and moving when they show the saint in Japan being abused and tortured, but all are strong and striking.

Uncut.

•  Palau 363045.   Late 19th-century plain sheep binding. Uncut; lacking two plates and two with minor worming as noted above; all plates well impressed, as would be expected of a work that the artist himself saw through the press! A very good copy of a scarce and important work.  (25095)

His “Travels” Here Are throughTime & Texts

•  First U.S. edition, following the London first of the same year, of a controversial defense of Catholicism from the author of the enduringly popular Lalla Rookh and other poems. This eclectic theological treatise is arranged as a chronological examination of the history of Christianity, conducted by the titular Irishman who tries (rather, “tries”) but fails to find a convincing reason to convert from the Roman Catholic to the Protestant Church.

•  American Imprints (1833) 20211; NSTC 2M35483.   Publisher's brown cloth, spine with printed paper label; cloth faded and discolored, spine label rubbed. Front free endpaper with faint pencilled ownership inscription dated 1856. Light to moderate foxing throughout. (20642)

Interesting Mariology — A Fine Image of Her

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•  Mora (1667–1737), a native of Puebla, was a Jesuit and rector of the Society's colegio in Querétaro. This is the second of three editions (1721, 1722, 1724) of his treatise on contrition and repentance.

An excellent, unsigned, copper engraving of Our Lady of Sorrows opposite the first page of the dedication represents each of the Seven Sorrows as a long sword piercing Her heart; “Meditacion I” with an absolutely charming headpiece.

No U.S. library reports ownership of this edition.

•  Medina, Mexico, 2685; DeBacker-Somervogel, V, 1275.   Contemporary vellum over paste boards, lacking the ties; vellum stained and worn through at board edges; text block loose in binding. Finger soiling in foremargins, old ink stains and some areas of light waterstaining here and there, some light foxing, instances of light dust-soiling. Ownership inscriptions in lower margins of two leaves inked over. Minor worming at inner margins at rear of book, touching some letters.  (26870)

BUILDER of the FIRSTNew World Utopian Community

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•  In the 18th century Mexico saw a birth of great biographical writing focusing on important figures in its history, especially its ecclesiastical history. Vasco de Quiroga (1470–1565) was an imposing and perhaps quixotic figure during the early post-Conquest decades. A learned man, he arrived in Mexico in 1531 as one of the first four judges of the high court (i.e., oidores) and became the first bishop of the far western province of Michoacan. In that “out of the way” region of Mexico he devoted himself to establishing European culture, ensuring fair treatment of the indigenous population, creating towns and cities, and building the first utopian community in the New World.

Not the least of his accomplishments was the creation of two pueblo-hospitals for native Americans, and appended and integral to this biography are his “Reglas, y ordenanzas para el gobierno de los Hospitales de Santa Fé de México, y Michoacàn,” which occupy the final 29 pages.

Historians still consider this to be the definitive biography of Quiroga. The engraved portrait of him, handsome and from the burin of José Morales, adds a face to the words of the biographer and to the account of the deeds of the biographee.

•  Medina, Mexico, 5099; Wellcome, Medical Americana, M.134; Palau 181902; Beristain, III, 2059.   Contemporary limp vellum lacking ties. A very good copy.  (23061)

The End Times, According to Muggleton

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•  First edition: Explication of Revelation, “proving” that Muggleton and John Reeve were God's “Last Messengers, and the Witnesses of the Spirit” (p. 165) as mentioned in Rev. 11:3 ff., with a divine commission to declare “the doctrine of the true God, and the right devil” (p. 161). Reeve and Muggleton were the prophets and leaders of the Muggletonians, a small Christian sect that denied the doctrine of the Trinity, believed that God would no longer interfere in human affairs after the revelation of their founders, and condemned prayer and preaching. In this, his first independent work following Reeve's death in 1658, Muggleton examines Revelation from a quirky, materialist, anti-Reason perspective, argues that God has a manlike, corporeal face and body, and discusses the failings of the “seven Churches . . . having no Commission from God” (p. 52): Roman Catholic, Episcopal, Presbytery, Independent, Baptist, Ranter, and Quaker.

Provenance:  Final blank leaf with inked inscriptions reading “Tho.s. Scupholme His Book 1740" and “Henery Collier His Book 1759.”

•  ESTC R267; Wing (rev. ed.) M3050; Smith, Anti-Quakeriana, 305.   Period-style calf, covers framed in blind double fillets, spine with gilt-ruled raised bands and gilt-stamped leather title-label. Pages age-toned and spotted; one leaf with tear from lower margin into text, sewn by hand some time ago.  (26004)

For more MUGGLETONIANA,  click here.

Enlightenment Catholicism

•  Ludovico Antonio Muratori (1672–1750) was a priest active in parish ministry, librarian to the Duke of Modena, and a brilliant scholar in many fields, best noted for his discovery of the oldest known canon, or list of books, of the New Testament (now known as the Muratorian Canon). In this work on the public good and the role of rulers in achieving it, he covers all aspects of human society, from politics to agriculture, exhibiting the combination of deep orthodox Christian faith and respect for freedom of science and scholarship that made him the chief representative of 18th-century “enlightened Catholicism.” First published 1749, this is the second edition. Click the interior image for an enlargement.

•  Goldsmith’s Kress 8390. On Muratori, see: New Catholic Encyclopedia, X, 81. Contemporary vellum over paste boards with remnants of gilt label on spine; soiled, stained, and chipped with loss of top layer of vellum on rear cover and part of spine. Interior with light foxing, water- and other staining. Far from splendid, far from dead. (11592)

Marriage Law from aNoted Mysogynist . . .

Nevizzano, Giovanni.

•  Legal treatise in civil (i.e., Roman) and canon law on marriage, family, and inheritance, “with remedies to settle the parties of the Guelphs and the Ghibellines.” A good page-plus of the extensive small-print index references “mulieres” (most references being not too friendly); the work concludes with a 6-page poem. Click the interior image for enlargement.

•  Not in Adams.   Contemporary vellum with yapp edges and remnants of ties, spine with inked title: spots of staining, light soiling, and (on spine) traces of a paper label. Lightly age-toned with occasional light soiling. Early inked notations on front pastedown and title-page. Inked call number on title-page.  (11869)

An Edition that HasEscaped the Bibliographers?

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•  Also known by the title De sacramentis, Nicolaus de Plove's work on the sacraments of the Roman Catholic church seems to have been printed for the first time ca. 1475, with approximately 10 additional incunable editions. This edition does not match the collation of any edition listed in VD16, COPAC, or WorldCat, but comparison of its type with that of two early 16th-century editions from Knobloch's press is sufficient to assign this printing to his Strassburg establishment and to give it a date in the first decade of the 16th century.

The text is complete but it is clear that the next to the last leaf is missing: It would contain the “Tabula” and possibly the colophon. The final blank is present.

Nicolaus's text is printed in double-column format in gothic, black-letter type, with guide letters but the initials unaccomplished.

Evidence of readership:  Marginalia throughout; a small area at the beginning of four lines on A6v with early reader's inking over of the lightly printed letters (in a near perfect approximation of the gothic type).

Provenance:  Ownership signature of “G. Lunndro, Woodmansey, 1852”; bookplate of Madison University; later bookplate of Colgate University (i.e., Madison changed names in 1890); later transferred to Colgate Rochester Divinity School. Deaccessioned.

•  Not in VD16; not in Adams.   19th-century plain boards. Ex-library with bookplates of two different institutions; pressure-stamp on title- and other leaves; five-digit acquisition number stamped in lower margin of first leaf of the prologue; residue of a charge pocket on rear pastedown and ink transfer to rear free endpaper.  (26026)

An Attractive Set

•  First edition: Sermons by the Archbishop of Mexico (from 1772–1800) and interim Viceroy of New Spain (in 1787), a man famed for his eloquence. The three volumes contain “Que comprende los sermones morales”; “Sermones panegiricos, y platicas espirituales”; and “Cartas pastorales.” Single-click any image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.

•  Palau 197255; Medina, Biblioteca Hispano-Americana, 6093. Contemporary treed sheep, spines with gilt-stamped leather title-labels and gilt-stamped decorations and volume numbers; corners and extremities slightly rubbed, boards with some scuffs and scrapes. Title-pages with decorative “BR” monogram stamp. Moderate offsetting to a number of pages in vol. I and a few in vol. II; occasional light spotting throughout. All edges speckled.

TO Part XV . . .

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