De Maria Virgine incomparabili, et dei genitrice sacrosancta, libri quinque.

£4,000 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

First edition of the first Jesuit treatise on the Virgin Mary and the foundation stone of Marian theology: not only a major product of the Counter-Reformation but also beautifully illustrated. The work has 12 very striking full-page woodcuts which appear here for the first and, perhaps, only time**.** They are quite different to the illustrations by Tobias Stimmer and fellow artists which were used for Sartorius’ second edition of 1583, and in the opinion of both John Rowlands and Giulia Bartrum they are very close to the style of Matthias Gerung (c. 1500-70) particularly in the distinctive cloud formation and architectural settings. Gerung’s work was quite distinctive and generally contained none of the influence of Italian art which affected many of his contemporaries. Although Gerung spent much of his working life at Lavingen, this was near enough to have some impact on the design of book illustration in Ingolstadt. Petrus Canisius (1521-97), Saint and Doctor of the Church, was one of the most influential of the early Jesuits and it was due to him more than any other that the Counter-Reformation achieved such a remarkable success in Germany, Austria, Bohemia and beyond. His treatise on the Virgin Mary became part of his Commentarium de Verbi Dei corruptelis (Commentary on the Corruptors of the Divine Word), his decade long refutation in three parts of the Lutheran ecclesiastical history, the Magdeburg Centuries . “Theologians like Canisius began the new discipline of Mario

• Binding: Hardcover

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