Histoire du Concile de Trente. 2-vol. set (Complete)
Amsterdam: J. Wetstein; G. Smith, 1736. First French-language edition. Hardcover. Quarto (10 1/4 x 8"). [14], lxxv, [1], 696pp; [4], 848pp. Modern half brown calf over light green cloth, with gold lettering and tooling to spines, retaining the original gilt-lettered leather titles. All paper edges red. Marbled endpapers. Engraved frontispiece portrait of the author, and engraved portrait of Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach (Queen of Great Britain as the wife of King George II), by George Vertue. Title vignettes. Title pages in red and black lettering.
This work was originally published in London in 1619 by Paolo Sarpi (1552-1623), an Italian historian, prelate, scientist, canon lawyer, and statesman active on behalf of the Venetian Republic during the period of its successful defiance of the papal interdict (1605-1607) and its war (1615-1617) with Austria over the Uskok pirates. The author published it under the name of Pietro Soave Polano, an anagram of Paolo Sarpi Veneto (plus o).
The book's emphasis was on the role of the Papal Curia, and its slant on the Curia hostile. Sarpi's work attained such fame that the Vatican opened its archives to Cardinal Pietro Sforza Pallavicino, whom it commissioned to write a three volume rebuttal, entitled the "Istoria del Concilio di Trento, scritta dal P. Sforza Pallavicino, della Comp. di Giesù ove insieme rifiutasi con auterevoli testimonianze un Istoria falsa divolgata nello stesso argomento sotto nome di Petro Soave Polano" ("The History of the Council of Trent written by P. Sforza Pallavicino, of the Company of Jesus, in which a false history upon the same argument put forth under the name of Petro Soave Polano is refuted by means of authoritative testimony") (1656-1657).
Sporadic foxing and offsetting throughout. Bindings in overall very good, interior in good+ to very good condition. g+ to vg. Item #42844
Price: $375.00