Theatre de L‘Antechrist. Auquel est respond au cardinal Bellarmin, au sieur de Remond, à Pererius, Ribera, Viegas, Sanderus et autres qui par leurs escrits condamnent la doctrine des eglises reformees

£35,000 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

A French Protestant text suppressed by the King of France from the library of the courtier, explorer and author Sir Walter Ralegh (1554-1618). One of only ten known printed books certainly from the library in the Tower of London and one of only four known volumes stamped with his armorial crest on the covers. Amorial Binding: The online British Armorial Bindings Database records four armorial stamps for Sir Walter Ralegh. Three of these, however, were made for the Bodleian Library and were applied to 72 books purchased with a £50 donation given in 1603. They display Ralegh’s arms of five lozenges in bend with a crescent for difference. The fourth armorial stamp, as found on the present volume, is the only one which Ralegh personally used to mark his own books. It shows his crest - out of a ducal coronet a conical hat surmounted with a plume of three feathers. The British Armorial Bindings Database records only four examples, including the present volume. The others are: Bibliander (Theodorus), Machumetis Saracenorum principis, eius successorum vitae (Basel, 1540). Calf. Derry Raphoe Diocesan Library, on deposit at the University of Ulster. Commelin (Hieronymus), Rerum Britannicarum (Heidelberg, 1587). Calf. Signature “Walter Ralegh” and motto “Ad spes hortamur”. A few annotations in a later hand. Cambridge University Library. Ricci (Matteo) Trigault (Nicolas), eds, Histoire de l’expedition Chrestienne au Royaume de la Chine (Lyon, 1616). Calf. Signature of “H. Saues 1618”; So

• Binding: Hardcover

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.