A list of 16 books by Jesuits from the sixteenth and Seventeenth century.

I.           776J Acquaviva, Ratio Atqve Institvtio Stvdiorvm Societatis Iesv.

II. 608J Alagona, Compendivm manvalis.

III. 620J Saint Augustine, Meditationes, Solioquia & Manuale.

IV. 312J Balde, Urania Victrix.

V.          599J. Balde, De Vanitate Mundi.

VI. 508J. Bartoli, Del suono.

VII.         515J.  Catholic Church (Jesuits), The Roman martyrologe.

VIII.        576J. David, Occasio Arrepta.

IX. 623J Goutoulas, Universa historia profana.

X. 644J Guiniggi, Poesis heroica, elegiaca,lyrica.

XI.         334H. Izquierda, Praxis exercitiorum spiritualium.   

XII.         622G. Kircher, Ars Magna.

XIII. 681J Perera, De communibus omnium rerum naturalium principiis.

XIV. 688J Roussin, Regulæ Societatis Jesu. (two variants) SOLD

XV. 675J. Schott, Physica Curiosa. SOLD

XVI. 661J. Schott, Technica Curiosa.

XVII. 725J. Stengel, Paraenesis de rvina Lvciferi.

XVIII. 682Ji. Thyraeus, Daemoniaci, hoc est.

XVIII¹ 682Jii. Thyraeus, Loca infesta, hoc est: de infestis, ob molestantes daemoniorvm.

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#1. 776J. Claudio Acquaviva (1543-1615)

Ratio Atqve Institvtio Stvdiorvm Societatis Iesv Avctoritate Septimæ Congregationis Generalis aucta.

Antwerpiæ: Apud Ioannem Mevrsivm 1635 Price $1,100

Octavo 15 x 10 cm. Signatures A-N⁸. Later edition* Bound in original limp vellum, with title in hand on spine “RATIO Stud”

“The term “Ratio Studiorum” is commonly used to designate the educational system of the Jesuits; it is an abbreviation of the official title, “Ratio atque Institutio Studiorum Societatis Jesu”, i.e. “Method and System of the Studies of the Society of Jesus”. The Constitutions of the Society from the beginning enumerated among the primary objects of the Society: teaching catechism to children and the ignorant, instructing youth in schools and colleges, and lecturing on philosophy and theology in the universities. Education occupied so prominent a place that the Society could rightly be styled a teaching order. Even during the lifetime of the founder, St. Ignatius, colleges were opened in various countries, at Messina, Palermo, Naples, Gandia, Salamanca, Alcalà, Valladolid, Lisbon, Billom, and Vienna; many more were added soon after his death, foremost among them being Ingolstadt, Cologne, Munich, Prague, Innsbruck, Douai, Bruges, Antwerp, Liège, and others. In the fourth part of the Constitutions general directions had been laid down concerning studies, but there was as yet no defininte, detailed, and universal system of education, the plans of study drawn up by Fathers Nadal, Ledesma, and others being only private works. With the increase of the number of colleges the want of a uniform system was felt more and more. During the generalate of Claudius Acquaviva (1581-1614), the educational methods of the Society were finally formulated. In 1584 six experienced schoolmen, selected from different nationalities and provinces, were called to Rome, where for a year they studied pedagogical works, examined regulations of colleges and universities, and weighed the observations and suggestions made by prominent Jesuit educators. The report drawn up by this committee was sent to the various provinces in 1586 to be examined by at least five experienced men in every province. The remarks, censures, and suggestions of these men were utilized in the drawing up of a second plan, which, after careful revision, was printed in 1591 as the “Ratio atque Institutio Studiorum”. Reports on the practical working of this plan were again sent to Rome, and in 1599 the final plan appeared, the “Ratio atque Institutio Studiorum Societatis Jesu”, usually quoted as “Ratio Studiorum”. Every possible effort had been made to produce a practical system of education; theory and practice alike had been consulted, suggestions solicited from every part of the Catholic world, and all advisable modifications adopted. The Ratio Studiorum must be looked upon as the work not of individuals, but of the whole Society.” (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12654a.htm) Catholic Encyclopedia article on the Ratio Studiorum.

DeBacker-Sommervogel [S.J.] vol.I, col.488 .

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#2. 608J Alagona (under the Pseudonyme Petrus Giuvara) Navarrus, w/ Martinus Aspilcueta (Azpilcueta) (1549- 1624)

Compendivm manvalis Navarri, ad commodiorem vsv tvm confessariorvm, tvm poenitentium, confectum, Petro Givvara Petro Giwara, Theologo Avctore. Nunc demum singulari diligentia recognitu[m], omnibusque mendis, quibus scatebat, studiosissimè purgatum.

Coloniæ: InOfficina Birckmannica, sumptibus Arnoldi Mylij, 1591/2. Price $ 900

Duodecimo: 13 x 8 cm. signatures A-S12 T 6. This is most likely a second edition. This copy is bound in full contemporary vellum with yapp edges missing ties.

. This copy has a nice early (1706) book plate from the Bibliothecæ S. Elisabethæ. Alagona was born in Syracuse. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1564, taught philosophy and theology, and was Rector of Trapani. He died in Rome. This, and his other first works were published under the family name of his mother, Givarra. Later on he used his own name, Alagona, and is best known for his Compendium of the works of Martin Aspilcueta, who was a doctor of theology in Navarre. Martin Aspilcueta was the uncle of St. Francis Xavier. The Enchiridion, seu Manuale Confessariorum, which was compiled by Alagona, went through at least twenty-three editions. A translation of this book into French by Legard, was condemned by the Parliament of Rouen, 12 February 1762. He also published a compendium of the “Summa”, which ran through twenty-five editions, and a compendium of the whole of Canon Law in two volumes, quarto. In the Jesuit College of Palermo there is also found a treatise by Alagona on Logic and Physics.
Navarrus, Martinus Aspilcueta studied at Alcalá and in France, and became professor of canon law at Toulouse and Cahors. Later, he returned to Spain and occupied the same chair for fourteen years at Salamanca, and for seven years at Coimbra in Portugal. At the age of eighty he went to Rome to defend his friend Bartolomeo Carranza, Archbishop of Toledo, accused before the Tribunal of the Inquisition. Though he failed to exculpate the Archbishop, Aspilcueta was highly honoured at Rome by several popes, and was looked on as an oracle of learning and prudence. His humility, disinterestedness, and charity were proverbial.
This Manuale sive Enchiridion Confessariorum et Poenitentium (Rome, 1568) originally written in Spanish and was long a classical text in the schools and in ecclesiastical practice. In his work on the revenues of benefices, first published in Spanish (Salamanca, 1566), translated into Latin (1568), he maintained that beneficed clergymen were free to expend the fruits of their benefices only for their own necessary support and that of the poor. He wrote numerous other works, e.g. on the Breviary, the regulars, ecclesiastical property, the jubilee year, etc. He allegedly invented the mathematical concept of “the time value of money”.
DeBacker-Sommervogel vol. I col. 109. ;VD16.; ZV 957; Adams. A- 208.

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#3. 620J Saint Augustine 354-430, Jean de Fécamp (early 11th century). Henricus Sommalius SJ (1534-1619)

Divi Avrelli Avgvstini Hipponensis episcopi Meditationes, Solioquia & Manuale. Meditations B. Anselmi cum tractatu de humani generis redemptione. D. Bernardi Idiotae viri docti, de amore diunio. Omnia ad mss. exemplaria emendata, & in meliorem ordinem distributa, opera ac studio R.P. Henrici Sommalii Societatu Iesv Theologi.

Antverpiæ 1701 (but the printed publication information is Venetiis MDCCXVIII Apud Nicholaum Pezzana) The collation of this volume matches the 1701 edition.
$800

Duodecimo, 12 x 6 cm.. A-Q12 Bound in contemporary calf gilt spine.

Henricus Sommalius had been a member of the Societas Jesu since 1551 , and was the first rector of the Jesuit college in Douay. He edited several editions of works by medieval theologians and church fathers. Among them are Albertus Magnus : Paradisus animae siue de virtutibus libellus , Antverpiae, Plantiniana, 1602; Aurelius Augustine : Confessions , Douay, 1608; the pseudo-Augustinian Soliloquium, Mediationes und Manuale, Douay, 1607. He wrote the famous edition of Thomas von Kempen ‘s Opera omnia (a Kempis), first edition in 1600, Antwerpen with Nutius, where the second edition was also published in 1607 and the third in 1615, which as first complete edition applies. [1]Further reprints then in various places, such as the 7th edition in Cologne in 1680, and finally in Cologne in 1759, published by Eusebius Amort , It seems possible that the curent edition of “Augustine’s Meditatios” was printed in 1701 without printer or place or date and then re-issued to accompany the a’Kempis?

DeBacker- Sommervogel vol.VII col.1381 Nº5.

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#4.  312J Jacobi Balde 1605-1668

Iacobi Balde è Societate Jesu Urania Victrix : [sive animae christianae certamina adversus illecebras et insultus quinque sensuum, ministrorum corporis sui elegiaco carmine descripta].

Monachii [Munich] : Typis Joannis Wilhelm Schell, sumptibus Joannis Wagneri, civis ac bibliopolae Monacensis, 1663. Price $1,200

Octavo: 15 x 9.5 cm. Signatures:)( [-)(8] A-X [L5 signed ‘K5’]. [[16], 329, [5] p., [6] leaves of plates 3 (of 5) engravings. Each plate depicts one the senses by Melchior Küsel. Engraved arms of Alexander VII, to whom the work is dedicated, on p. [5] of preliminaries and p. 329. Engraving on p. 318, signed by P. Kilian .

This copy is bound in contemporary red morocco with gilt boards and Spine. a very nice copy . ¶ This is not only a sophisticated and conflict-laden edification, but also a panorama of Baroque culture of knowledge, in which the five senses of man recommend their own modern world experience. It is a “comprehensive allegorical poem about the purely worldly-oriented human arts and sciences …” (Dünnhaupt). ¶Urania (the Goddess/muse of astronomy) is the representation of the soul who is the addressee of love letters from each of the five senses and she always replies in the negative. Here begins Balde’s contest between the Christian soul and the temptation of the five senses. This impressed Pope Alexander VII. so much that he sent the author a golden medal. Urania is further addressed by a painter, a musician and a chef. The letters begin with the sense of sight. Sight tells Urania [I am] an especially precious sense, without which you could not read… we senses send you this greeting…We senses are quintuplets, and you too have always appeared to value most of all. For why else would you lavish so much stolen flattery and tenderness on just one of us? On me, to whom you cry “My Light”. Urania is of course victorious ‘Urania Victrxi’never letting the five senses seduce or receive her soul or challenge her faith!
Faber du Faur ; no. 996 Yale University Library collection of German baroque literature ; no.; McGeary & Nash. Emblem books at the University of Illinois. B1; Landwehr, J. German emblem books,; 121-
DeBacker-Sommervogel vol I col Nº.24 (p823)

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#5. 599J Balde, Jacobus . (1603-1668)

Reverendi Patris Jacobi Balde e Societate Jesu. Poema. De Vanitate Mundi.

Herbipoli BencardWürzburg.1659 $1,000

Duodecimo, 12.5 x 7.4. Second edition A⁴–B-N¹² O⁸ (O8 blank and present ,bulls head watermark) This edition has a frontice (bound as A⁴⁾  Wolfgang Kilian  Bound in beautifully preserved contemporary full sheep decorated in blind with flowers and ivy leaves, lacking ties  

Faber du Faur , comments that Bade’s verse while of a past time in both Latin and German with “incomparable virtuosity making the whole a remarkable dance of death instilled with terrifying macabre merriment. The poem has also some of the qualities of the Bavarian village feast whichends with a lusty fight and much broken earthenware. In this case ii is the whole earthball which literally goes to pieces”

Jacob Balde,eventually know as The German Horace” was born 1604, at Ensisheim, Alsace and died in  1668, at Neuburg, in the Bavarian palatinate. He attend the Jesuit school at Ensisheim and while at this school his Grandmother was found guilty of witchcraft, and he had to leave yet he eventually was to finish his education at the University of Ingolstadt and there after entered the order of the Jesuits in 1624; became court-preacher and Bavarian historiographer in Münich, 1640, confessor and court-preacher to the count-palatine, Philipp Wilhelin; and acquired a great fame as a poet, not in his native tongue, or singularly enough his German poetry is but in Latin, as an imitator of Horace, Virgil, etc. He wrote odes, satires, and epics, of a romantic, humorous, and religious character.

His Odae Partheniae to the Virgin were separately published in 1648. His Urania Victrir (1657), describing the contest between the Christian soul and the temptation of the five senses, impressedPope Alexander VII. so much that he sent the author a golden medal. A collected edition of his works appeared at Cologne, 1660, and a more complete one at Munich, 1729. Minor selections have often been made; for instance, by Orelli, 1805. See Georg Westermayer: Jacobus Balde, sein Leben u. seine Werke, München, 1868.

DeBacker-Sommervogel, vol. I col.818 Nº.5 ; Faber du Faur ; no. 991 Reproduction: Mikrofilm-Ausg./ New Haven/ Research Publications,/ 1969./ 1 microfilm reel./ Yale University Library collection of German baroque literature ; reel 294, no. 991;vd17ppn001188666; VD1723:330685W

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#6.  508G Bartoli, Daniello. (1608-1685 ( Zane, Domenico. 1620-72)

Del suono de’ tremori armonici e dell’udito.

A spese di Pietro Bottelli, all’insegna della Naue: 1680.                 $1,500

Quarto, 20 x 15 Cm.  Signatures: ‡⁶, A⁴-M⁴, N-Z ⁸-Aa-C⁸, Dd⁶ (2D⁶ blank) Second edition.  With a few woodcut diagrams of wave theory. This copyis bound in contemporary full vellum.

Haller praises his philosophical works, and Dr. Burney in his History of Music vol. III states that this work ‘ on Harmony,” published at Bologna, 1680, under the title “Del Suono de Tremori Armonici e dell’ Udito,” a truly scientific and ingenious work,in which are several discoveries in harmonics, that have been pursued by posterior writers on the subject.”

This is the second edition of Bartoli’s important work on the study of acoustics and physiology of hearing, including somehints on the theories of Galileo Galilei. From 1670 to 1673 Bartoli served as Rector of the Collegio Romano in recognition ofhis international prestige as a writer.  Indefatigible in his final years Bartoli produced 4 Jesuit biographies and three scientific treatises on pressure, sound, coagulation.

His several works of spiritual reflection were brought together a folio edition, Le Morali in 1684. His final work, Pensieri sacriwent to press after his death in Rome, January 13, 1685.

De Backer-Sommervogel vol I, col 980: Wellcome II,109.;NLM: WZ 250

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#7.  ROMAN MARTYROLOGY 515J. Catholic Church (English Jesuits) 

The Roman martyrologe set forth by the command of Pope Gregory XIII. and revievved by the authority of Vrban VIII. Translated out of Latin into English, by G.K. of the Society of Iesus. The second edition, in which are added diuers saints, put in to the calender, since the former impression.

Printed at S. Omers : by Thomas Geubels, 1667.   $2,600

Octavo: 15 x 9 Signatures; ‡¹⁰ A-Z⁸ 2A⁴. Device of the Society of Jesus on title page. At foot of title: With licence, and at foot of Aa  The Roman Martyrs for Dec 21- “Omnes sancti Mártyres, oráte pro nobis.”

At foot of title: With licence, and at foot of  Aa4v: “Jmprimatur J.C. De Longeual.” translated out of Latin into English by G.K. of the Society of Iesvs. , George Keynes1 (1630-1659.)  Bound in contemporary calf with wear, expertly rebacked. 

This English version of the Roman Catholic martyrology, or calendar of Saints, The second edition, enlarged, of a recusant work first published in 1627, also in Saint-Omer. The translation of both the original and this second edition is generally attributed to George Keynes, a Jesuit, but almost certainly not the George Keynes (1628-1658), son of Edward Keynes of Compton Pauncefoot, referred to as a possible translator in ONDB. 

Backer-Sommervogel,; vol.IV, col. 1023, Nº. 1; Gillow,; IV:30; Clancy, Thomas. English Catholic Books 1641-1700. Chicago, p. 55.; Wing; K392 Wing (CD-Rom, 1996), R1892; ESTCR35414. 

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#8. 576J.   David, Jan. (1545-1613)

 Occasio Arrepta Neglecta. Huius Commoda: Illius Incommoda. Auctore R.P. Ioanne David Societatis Iesv Sacerdote.

Antwerp: Ex officina Platiniana, apud Ioannem Moretum. 1605. $4,500

Quarto, 8 x 6 in. First (and only)edition. +-++4, A-Z4, a-t4 This copy is bound in contemporary calf with the Jesuit insignia in gold on the boards.

First edition. A very beautiful collection of emblems, written by a Belgian Jesuit. The illustration contains one frontispiece and 12 engaging plates which were engraved by engraved by Théodore Galle. Each one depicts the goddess “Occasio”which is the Latin name for Caerus, personification of opportunity whose comments and depicts both opportunity and neglected opportunity. A second part with continuous pagination, but its own title page with the printer mark of Plantin. “Occasio drama” .Which is a drama by the author embodying this thought process.

David was born at Courtrai and entered the society of Jesuits in 1581 – The engraver Galle worked closely with the publisher Plantin-Moretus and was married to the daughter of Jan Moretus and Martina Plantin. He can be considered the “most important picture publisher of the first half of the 17th century in the Netherlands” (AKL XLVIII, 8).

Daly & Dimler Jesuit series ;part one: J.144 p.150. Sommervogel vol. II, 1847: 7.: Landwehr 186. De ]Backer/Sommervogel vol.II, col.1847 Nº.7. ; Bibl. Belgica II, D 139. Praz 313. Funck 302. Brunet II, 536: “Les ouvrages de J. David sont recherchés ů cause des gravures de Th. Galle dont ils sont orn 701 Nº 4); Landwehr:Romantic 412.; Praz,p.382

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#9 623J Jacques Goutoulas (1607- 1662)

Vniuersa historia profana in certa capita, per annorum decadas digesta, a Christo nato, ad annum millesimum sexcentesimum quadragesimum, cum imperatorum regumque Francorum iconibus. Auctore Iacobo Goutoulas Tolosano, Societatis Iesu sacerdote. Pars prima.- Quinto, ab ecclesiâ conditâ, saeculo definita.

Parisiis : Apud Dionysium Bechet, viâ Iacobaeâ, sub Scuto Solari,1653. price$ 1,500

Four volumes bound as two Folios. 31 x 21cm. Signatures :ā⁴ ē⁴( -ē4)  A-Z4, Aa-Zz4, Aaa-Zzz4, Aaaa-Mmmm4. First edition . There is a Fontispiece of History, Minerva and Time around an altar surmounted by fame by Jacques Stella was a French painter, a leading exponent of the Neoclassical style of Parisian Atticism. Stella was presented to Louis XIII by Cardinal Richelieu. He was granted a peintre du roi. Audacious and varied, his work moved easily between the realism of direct observation, the antique spirit and a higher religious aspiration.

Bound in contemporary vellum which shows light browning with typical edge wear. Manuscript spines are frayed at top extremes. Interiors are clean and bright. Light rippling from previous humidity exposure. Top edge of the text is branded with the ownership mark of C8DS

This is a History divided into decades in which Goutoulas in which lists or at least mentions some Public works, Prodigius births and actions as well as Calamites, Poltics and important historical facts.

DeBacker-Sommervogel vol. III col. 1636 Nº1. see :Turner 1999 / Roman Baroque Drawings c.1620 to c.1700 (327)

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#10. 644J Vincentii Guinigi. (1588-1653)

Vincentii Gvinisii Lvcensis e Soc. Iesv Poesis heroica, elegiaca, lyrica, epigrammatica aucta & recensita :item dramatica, nunc primùm in lucem edita.

Antverpiae : Ex officina Plantiniana Balthasaris Moreti,1637. Price $750

Duodecimo 12.5 X 7.5 cm.  Signatures: A-Q¹² R¹⁰/ Engraved title page; initials; tail pieces; publisher’s device on leaf R10 verso.  (382, [22] pages) Second Edition , first Rome 1626. 

Bound in full English “oxford” dark calf with an incunabule leaf paste down.  A very nice copy in original condition. 

Rome’s Jesuit College was at the heart of “the first free public education system that Europe or the rest of world had seen,” a worldwide network of schools held together by the order’s highly developed procedures of information and power management.3 As every year in the fall, the students gathered in the great hall or “aula” to listen to the oration that would open a new academic year. However conventional in format, inaugural discourses offered professors a rare occasion to display talent and voice opinions before large audiences. Collegio Romano scholars such as Famiano Strada, Tarquinio Galluzzi, and Vincenzo Guinigi had them collected and printed in volumes that were often re-­edited and became bestsellers. This collection of epigrams, poems and odes has  allocutions on various subjects including the Jesuit Martyrs of Japan. 

DeBacker-Sommervogel,; vol.III, col. 1942, Nº. 11 

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#11. 334G. Sebastián Izquierdo  1601-1681 Ignatius,; of Loyola, Saint,; 1491-1556.

Praxis exercitiorum spiritualium P.N.S. Ignatti. Auctore P. Sebastiano Izquierdo Alcarazense Societatis Jesu. 

Rome; Buagni 1695                                  $3,000

Octavo 18 x 12 Cm.  Signatures A-G⁸,H^4. First edition  12 full-page engravings ;each page of the text is printed within an ornamental typographic border.  This is a nice clean copy, unlike the copy which has been digitized which is a mess and terribly browned . 

The copy offered here is clean and crisp, it is bound in original vellum.

The Jesuit Sebastián Izquierdo in his Práctica de los ejercicios espirituales, written in 1665 translated in to Italian the same year then in 1678 translated as here into Latin and later published in several translations and versions offers   an illustrated guide to the Ignatian spiritual exercises. The illustrations, 12 of them, are the subject of image meditation  which was a favorite method of the Jesuits who, beginning with the monumental Evangelicae Historiae Imagines (1593) of  Jerónimo Nadal, actively took hold of religious iconography and adjusted and concentrated it for the teaching of  the Societies ( and Ignatius’ ) vision.  The images are not just simple depiction’s instead they are mnemonic devices. 

These images are points of departures and give the current 21st century reader a precious examples of images that inspire meditation, direct the reception of the teachings and  anchor them in the memory. Particularly memorable is the Image of Hell on page 72, or the Puteus Abyssi (the bottomless pit)  .  The lay-out shows the pedagogical  intentions and possibilities of this little book: there are  12 parts consisting of 12 separate quires, numbered from ‘A’ to ‘M’ and paginated each from 1-12,  each with its own full-page illustration , these could have been  meant to be distributed  separately – according to match the educational needs or level of the students.   The Images are in high contrast, with plenty of Bloody and memorable images.

The Puteus Abyssi depicts a  poor man who is naked and sitting in a chair in some sort of oubliette.  He has seven swords, each with animal head handles, in him  and each is strategically stuck in  various parts of the body.  The swords are labeled for the passions. Most interesting of these might be the sword marked ‘Vengeance’ it is hanging offer the mans head, the Idleness sword is stuck between his legs, Gluttony in his stomach, Lust … Envy in his back, Avarice between his Shoulders and Pride in his heart.

Izquierdo was also the author of  Pharus scientiarum, a treatise on  a methodology  to access knowledge, conceived  as a single science. In this work, he assimilated Aristotelian and Baconian logic,  and  he expressed some original ideas on mathematics and logic that have earned their author a reputation as an outstanding mathematician.  Not just like his Spanish contemporaries John Caramuel or Tomás Vicente Tosca , but also significant foreign mathematicians as Athanasius Kircher , Gaspar Knittel or Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz , the latter, in particular, cited with, his Disputatio of Combinatione, in Combinatorial Art (1666).

DeBacker-Sommervogel, vol.IV, col.

#12.   622G Athansius  Kircher 1602-1680

Ars magna sciendi, in XII libros digesta, qua nova et universali methodo per artificiosum combinationum contextum de omni re proposita plurimis et prope infinitis rationibus disputari, omniumque summaria quedam cognitio comparari potest. Ad qugustissimum Rom. imperatorem Leopoldum primum, justum, pium, felicem.

Amsterdam: Apud Joannem Janssonium à Waesberge, & Viduam Elizei Weyerstraet, 1669       $9,500

Folio, 36 ½ x 24 Cm Signatures:. *4, **4, A-Z4, Aa-Gg4-Zz4, Aaa-Ooo4, Ppp6. First edition  In this copy all of the called for  illustrations appear:  On the frontice of part one The Greek inscription, at the foot of the throne on which the Divine Sophia sits, translates as “Nothing is more beautiful than to know the all.” Next there is a full page engraved portrait of Leopold I; next full paged plate of the ‘Arbor Philosophica two engraved plates with six parts to make two volvelles (at pages 13 and 173 respectively) the vovelle plates are present, one on slightly different paper, and five double paged tables. There are also numerous engravings and woodcuts throughout the text.  This copy is complete. It is bound in full original calf with a gilt spine with an expertly executed early rebacking.

   “ Nothing is more beautiful  than know all things”   

 The ‘Ars Magna Sciendi’ is Kircher’s exploration and development of the ‘Combinatoric Art’ of Raymond Lull, the thirteenth century philosopher. Kircher attempts in this monumental work to classify knowledge under the nine ideal attributes of God, which were taken to constitute the pattern for all creation. In the third chapter of this book is presented a new and universal version of the Llullistic method of combination of notions. Kircher seems to be convinced that the Llullistic art of combination is a secret and mystical matter, some kind of esoteric doctrine. In contrast with Llull, who used Latin words, words with clearly defined significations for his combinations, Kircher began filling the tables with signs and symbols of a different kind. By doing this Kircher was attempting to penetrate symbolic representation itself. (forming a ‘symbolic-Logic)

Kircher tried to calculate the possible combinations of all limited alphabets (not only graphical, but also mathematical). He considered himself a grand master of decipherment and tried to (and thought he did) translate Egyptian hieroglyphic texts, he felt that knowledge was a process of encoding and decoding. His tabula generalis, the more mathematical way of thinking created the great difference between Llull and Kircher.

.

Kircher used the same circle-figures of Llull, but the alphabet which Kircher proposes as material for his combination-machine reveals the difference to Llullus’ at first sight. It is not the signification in correlation with the position in the table, because all nine places in each table are filled with the same significations we find in the Llullistic tables, that makes the difference. It is the notation, which creates the difference. While making certain modifications, mainly in the interest of clarity, Kircher retains the main thesis of Raymond Lull in the search for a scientific approach to the classification of all branches of knowledge. The central aim of Llull’s and Kircher’s activity was to invent a type of logic or scientific approach capable of finding and expressing universal truth.

Kircher and his seventeenth century contemporaries had discarded common language as a satisfactory vehicle for this undertaking. Kircher favored the use of symbols as a possible solution to his problem, which he had explored in his earlier work on a non-figurative universal language was not a primary concern of lull’s ‘Combinatoric Art,’ his approach lent itself naturally to the seventeenth century savants and their abiding interest in this subject. (see Brian L. Merrill, Athansius Kircher An Exhibition at Brigham Young University).

De Backer-Sommervogel  vol IV col.1066. no. 28; Merrill 22; Ferguson I. 467; Brunet III, 666; Caillet II, 360.5771; Clendening 10.17; De Backer I, 429-30.23; Graesse IV, 21; Reilly #26.

‡

#13. 681J. Benito Perera 1535-1610

Benedicti Pererii Societatis Iesu, De communibus omnium rerum naturalium principiis & affectionibus, libri quindecim. Qui plurimum conferunt, non tantùm ad eos octo libros, qui de physico auditu inscribuntur: sed etiam multos alios difficillimos Aristotelis locos intelligendos. Adiecti sunt huic operi, præter nouam diligentem locorum citationem, tres indices.

Coloniæ: sumptibus haeredum Lazari Zetzneri, 1603. Price $1,400

Octavo 18 x 11cm. Signatures:)(8, )( )(4, a-z8, A-Z8,Aa-Ii8. Vellum over wooden boards .

Pereira was born at Ruzafa, near Valencia, in Spain. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1552 and taught successively literature, philosophy, theology, and sacred scripture in Rome, where he died. His main philosophical work is De communibus omnium rerum naturalium principiis et affectionibus libri quindecim (Rome, 1576)

“Originally composed in 1576 in Paris and reprinted numerous times over the end of the sixteenth centuries across Europe, the De communibus omnium rerum naturalium principiis et affectionibus is largely based on Pereira’s lectures at the Collegio Romano that he presented in the 1560s. Although, according to its title, the book is mostly concerned with Aristotle’s Physics, manuscript evidence suggests that the distinction between metaphysics, physics and mathematics was first developed in Pereira’s lectures on Aristotle’s other writings, mainly on Metaphysics. Overall, the volume’s structure, style and main goal demonstrate that it was designed as a general program of teaching philosophy and scientific matters within the Jesuit order. Pereira states that there are two main “sects” whose approach to philosophy and science should be rejected: while within the first one people refuse and condemn all philosophical matters as something which contradicts Christian teaching, there are also those who believe that everything can be proven by rational arguments and philosophy. By claiming that there is a universal science that incorporates all other sciences in se and is, therefore, above all other disciplines, Pereira advocates natural philosophy and provides a theoretical framework within which natural philosophical investigation is a valid way to observe the beauty of nature as the most illustrative demonstration of God’s will. At the same time, he insists that considering his general argument on the place of metaphysics, Aristotle’s authority in natural philosophical matters is not absolute, which, in turn, opens the door for further naturalistic research, especially in the cases when Aristotle was wrong. Thus, by dividing the functions of metaphysics, natural philosophical disciplines, and by reconsidering the method of natural philosophical investigation, Pereira makes a significant contribution to both the sixteenth-century Aristotelian tradition of natural philosophy and the emerging Jesuit approach to the study of nature.”

(Pereira, Benedict: De communibus omnium rerum naturalium principiis et affectionibus, in: Noscemus Wiki, URL: http://wiki.uibk.ac.at/noscemus/De_communibus_omnium_rerum_naturalium_principiis_et_affectionibus (last revision: 31.08.2021).

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#14. 688J Roussin

[two variant copies]  Regulæ Societatis Jesu.

Lugduni [Lyon] : Ex typographia Iacobi Roussin, 1607. Price $ 750

Duodecimo. 1) 11.9 x 7.5cm 2)12.7 x 7.7c. Signatures:A-L12. copy 2 has 5 leaves of contemporary notes at the end. Both copies are bound in later but early? full calf.

These two Books are close to identical copies of the rules for the Society of Jesus. It was published in 1607 after Catholics had regained dominance of Lyon.  This is the only book published in Lyon that is about the Jesuit order itself, it is quite small and bound in vellum., [one of these is most probably a pirate edition published by Jan Schipper and printed by Elzevier in Amsterdam, after 1654. The first edtion was printed in 1586 in Rome].

This small collection offers great teaching demonstration, first in looking for and seeing difference, then using reference works to identify how the variants are described and assigned.

see DeBacker-Sommervogel vol. V. col 103. andRépertoire bibliographique des livres imprimés en France au XVIIe siècle 29, 45-46 (32).

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TWO SCHOTTS

Physica Curiosa, Sive Mirabilia Naturæ Et Artis Libris XII. Comprehensa, Quibus pleraq;, quæ de Angelis, Dæmonibus, Hominibus, Spectris, Energumenis, Monstris, Portentis, Animalibus, Meteoris.

and

Technica curiosa, sive Mirabilia artis, libris XII

“Gaspar Schott, German physicist, born 5 February, 1608, at Konigshofen; died 12 or 22 May, 1666, at Augsburg. He entered the Society of Jesus 20 October, 1627, and on account of the disturbed political condition of Germany was sent to Sicily to complete his studies. While there he taught moral theology and mathematics in the college of his order at Palermo. He also studied for a time at Rome under the well known Athanasius Kircher. He finally returned to his native land after an absence of some thirty years, and spent the remained of his life at Augsburg engaged in the teaching of science and in literary work. Both as professor and as author he did much to awaken an interest in scientific studies in Germany. He was a laborious student and was considered on of the most learned men of his time, while his simple life and deep piety made him an object of veneration to the Protestants as well as to the Catholics of Augsburg. Schott also carried on an extensive correspondence with the leading scientific men of his time, notably with Otto von Guericke, the inventor of the air-pump, ( which is in the Technica) of whom he was an ardent admirer. He was the author of a number of works on mathematics, physics, and magic. They are a mine of curious facts and observations and were formerly much read. His most interesting work is the ‘Magia Universalis Naturae et Artis,’ 4 vols., Wurzburg, 1657-1659, which contains a collection of mathematical problems and large number of physical experiments, notably in optics and acoustics. His ‘Mechanicahydraulica-pneumatica’ (Wurzburg, 1657) contains the first description of von Guericke’s air pump. He also published ‘Pantometricum Kircherianum’ (Wurzburg, 1660); ‘Physica curiosa’ (Wurzburg, 1662), a supplement to the ‘Magia universalis;’ ‘Anatomia physico-hydrostatica fontium et fluminum’ (Wurzburg, 1663), and a ‘Cursus mathematicus’ which passed through several editions. He also edited the ‘Itinerarium exacticum’ of Kircher and the ‘Amussis Ferdinandea’ of Curtz.” (Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. XIII, page 589)

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675J Gaspar Schott 1608-1666

P. Gasparis Schotti Regis Curiani E Societate Jesu, Olim in Panormitano Siciliæ, nunc in Herbipolitano Franconiæ Gymnasio ejusdem Societatis Jesu Matheseos Professoris, Physica Curiosa, Sive Mirabilia Naturæ Et Artis Libris XII. Comprehensa, Quibus pleraq;, quæ de Angelis, Dæmonibus, Hominibus, Spectris, Energumenis, Monstris, Portentis, Animalibus, Meteoris, &c. rara, arcana, curiosaq; circumferuntur, ad Veritatis trutinam expenduntur, Variis ex Historia ac Philosophia petitis disquisitionibus excutiuntur, & innumeris exemplis illustrantur. Ad Serenissimum Ac Potentissimum Principem Carolum Ludovicum, S.R.I. Electorem, &c. Cum figuris æri incisis, & Privilegio. Editio altera auctior.

Herbipolus [i.e., Wurzburg]: Sumptibus Johannis Andreæ Endteri & Wolffgangi Jun. Hæredum. Excudebat Jobus Hertz Typographus Herbipol, 1667. $6,600

Quarto     π1 [a]² b-g⁴ A-Z4, Aa-Zz4, Aaa-Zzz4 Aaaa-Zzzz4 Aaaaa-Zzzzz4 Aaaaaa-Zzzzzz4 Aaaaaaaa-Pppppppp⁴ Qqqqqqqq² 1389 pages 

This copy lacks the extra illustrated title, and two other engravings the plate for 363 and the folding plate of the famous linden trees of Neustadt am Kocher. (But the Folding plate of the antiquities at Neustadt am Kocher is present.)

This copy has 59 (instead of 61) engraved plates many folded. copper plates. 27 folding , This is bound in Original pigskin over wooden boards with one working clasp and the remains of another.

Physica Curiosa is an encyclopedia of the natural sciences of the age. In keeping with Schott’s character, it compiles many of the illustrations and literature previously published. As with many natural history publications of the era, it depicted fantastical creatures alongside real ones. Divided into twelve books, the first six books are devoted to “miraculous” subjects, including Demons and Angels, spectres, demonic possessions, human and beastly monsters, and portents. Part I is mainly a treatise on demonology, huge encyclopedia of wonder and the occult.Chapters are devoted to angels and demons and their relationships with wizards, ghosts,vampires, incubi and succubi, In great detail, it is followed by depictions of Physical anomalies ( with many interesting images). 

The last six books deal with the “marvels” of nature – real creatures from exotic locales, such as elephants and rhinos.

These descriptions of remarkable animals, including the American sloth, armadillo, & Anteater, the first with the musical notes illustrating its strange song (which also fascinated Harsdörffer); one folding plate illustrates Diego de Gozon killing the dragon of Rhodes, 1345,

Physica Curiosa’s target audience was other scholars, educators, and the rich nobility of the time, as this was the demographic that could afford the publication. Many other creatures presented by Schott exemplify the practice of misrepresenting real creatures, or imposing religious elements on natural entities. 

He wrote many interesting works: the ‘Magia Universalis Naturae et Artis,’ 4 vols., Wurzburg, 1657-1659, which contains a collection of mathematical problems and large number of physical experiments, notably in optics and acoustics.

His ‘Mechanicahydraulica-pneumatica’ (Wurzburg, 1657) contains the first description of von Guericke’s air pump. He also published ‘Pantometricum Kircherianum’ (Wurzburg, 1660); ‘Physica curiosa’ (Wurzburg, 1662), a supplement to the ‘Magia universalis;’

‘Anatomia physico-hydrostatica fontium et fluminum’ (Wurzburg, 1663), and a ‘Cursus mathematicus’ which passed through several editions. He also edited the ‘Itinerarium exacticum’ of Kircher and the ‘Amussis Ferdinandea’ of Curtz.” (Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. XIII, page 589)

De Backer -Sommervogel vol.VII,col 909 Nº 8; Caillet 498.VD 17 39:120052P. Dünnhaupt 7.2. Nissen 3746. Ferguson II, 340f. Caillet 10005.

‡

661J Gaspar Schott; (1608-1666.) and Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680.)  

P. Gasparis Schotti regiscuriani e societate Jesu, Olim in Panormitano Siciliae, nunc in Herbipolitano Franconiae Gymnasio ejusdem Societatis Jesu Matheseos Professoris : Technica curiosa, sive Mirabilia artis, libris XII. comprehensa; Quibus varia Experimenta, variaq́ue Technasmata Pneumatica, Hydraulica, Hydrotechnica, Mechanica, Graphica, Cyclometrica, Chronometrica, Automatica, Cabalistica, aliaq́ue Artis arcana acmiracula, rara, curiosa, ingeniosa, magnamq́ue partem nova & antehac inaudita, eruditi Orbis utilitati, delectationi, disceptationi-q́ue proponuntur; ad eminentissi mumS.R.I. principem Joannem Philippum elector. mogunt. Cum figuris ori incisis, & Privilegio. 

Norimbergæ :sumptibus Johannis Andreae Endteri, & Wolfgangi junioris hæredum, excudebat Jobus Hertz, typographus herbipol, Prostant Norimbergae apud dictos Endteros, 1664  $5,700 

Two quarto volumes bound in in one. 203 x 150 mm. Signatures:  )(-5)(⁴A-Z⁴ Aa-Rrrrrr⁴ Ssssss². Bound in full early calf with gilt spine. 42 unnumbered pages, including half-title, frontispiece and title-page, 579, 3 n.n.,583-1044, 12n.n.  Allegorical frontispiece, and a portraitof the dedicatee on the verso of the Frontispiece and his Arms on page. (12), 60 Plates engraved outside the text, many folded, all engraved in copper. The plate 36 of the first part is on p. 97. Previous owner’s ex libris glued to the inside cover. Skillful restoration in style to spine, internally sporadic foxing, some browning and signs of wear, good copy. 

This work is a huge compilation of scientific instruments, mechanical technology, and physical curiosities, in fact every aspect of anything technical that Schott could discover. It includes a detailed account of Otto von Guericke’s experiment with vacuums which took place at Magdeburg in 1654. The work also describes the earliest use of the diving bell, Torricelli’s experiments on the barometer, Boyle’s experiments on air pressure, chronometers, perpetual motion machines; the treatise “Mirabilia chronometrica” gives the first description of a universal joint and a classification of gear teeth.

It gives a very comprehensive account of the state of technology up to the beginning of the Scientific Revolution. Norman: “Gives the first description of a universal joint and the classification of gear teeth.” Tomash & Williams:

“This two-volume work was Schott’s description of the latest technological wonders andexperiments… It includes hundreds of devices used in pneumatics, watermovement, time keeping, cabalistic and secret writings, etc. The most famous section deals with the experiments of Otto van Guericke with vacuums” At theend of the first part, from page 427, Kircher’s work is reprinted as an appendix Kircher’s work: “Specula melitensis encyclica, hoc est syntagma novum instrumentorum physico-mathematicorum” Like most of Schott’s works, the volume is richly illustrated. 

This edition contains a total of 63 copper engravings: allegorical frontispiece, Portrait of the Dedicatee, Prince Johann Philipp von Schönborn, Archbishop Elector of Mainz, on the verso of the title page, and his engraved Arms on p. (12), 60 plates out the text numbered I-XXXIX (with numbering error and two plates numbered both XVI) and I-XXI (with illustrations XVI and XVIII united in a single plate). 

DeBacker-Sommervogel vol.VII col. 910; VD1723:232569Q ; Baillie, Clocks Watches, 1664. ;Norman catalogue 1911. ;BL German, 1601-1700,; S1256; Dünnhaupt (2. Aufl.), S. 3820, 11.1

‡

725J George Stengel 1585-1651.

Paraenesis de rvina Lvciferi, cæterorumq; Angelorum, auctore Georgio Stengelio

Ingolstadii, typis G. Hænlini,1630. $4,200

Duodecimo 12 x 8 cm. Signatures: )(¹²,A-M¹² lacking blank? M^12.  Bound in contemporary calf over paste boards with yapp edges, stamped in blind,  with a stamp of the Jesuit library of Viena 1636. 

Stengel authored about 90 books and is  one of my favorite Jesuit Authors, Writing on many subjects including monsters, Earthquakes, Lucifer, and other questionable angels, Egyptian magic, the Honorarium Hæreticorum is one I’m looking forward to find! And Angels as this book which is mostly about Lucifer, based on a Lecture given by Stengel in 1622 . As in most of his books Stengel has a schoolastic throughness which is quite enlightening, he has refrences from Classical pagan authors, Aristotle,Plato,Seneca….  Church fathers : Jerome,Aquinas,Augustine ,Bernard  then  of course Biblical source reference  Ezeliel  and Isaiah, Mathew,Job  as well as Jesuit contemporaries Drexel and Peter Röstius and medieval theologians such as  Petrus Blesensis. On its own the fall of Lucifer is quite a muddle and is full of contradictions , “As a result of this heinous sin against God, Lucifer was banished from living in heaven (Isaiah 14:12). He became corrupt, and his name changed from Lucifer (“morning star”) to Satan (“adversary”). His power became completely perverted (Isaiah 14:12,16,17). And his destiny, following the second coming of Christ, is to be bound in a pit during the 1000-year millennial kingdom over which Christ will rule (Revelation 20:3), and eventually will be thrown into the lake of fire (Matthew 25:41).”(from Satan – Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology) 

Georg Stengel was born in 1584 in Augsburg he entered the Society of Jesus in 1601 and spent his whole life close to Ingolstadt. , he was a novice at Landsberg and taught at Munich, in 1618 he was Rector at the college at Dillingen and in 1640 he retrned to Ingolstadt. Stengel believed that all the punishments of God point to the need for an implacable persecution of witches on the Franconian model. (between 1600 and 1605 in Lower Franconia hundreds of ‘witches’ were burnt 250 in Fulda, 139 in Freigericht and more than 100 in Hanau)  Stengel, while a professor at Ingolstadt, (in his great work, “De judiciis divinis”) urges, as reasons why a merciful God permits illness, his wish to glorify himself through the miracles wrought by his Church, and his desire to test the faith of men by letting them choose between the holy aid of the Church and the illicit resort to medicine, declares that there is a difference between simple possession and that brought by bewitchment, and that the latter is the more difficult to treat.

DeBacker Sommervogel vol. VII col.1554 Nº.60 

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Thyraeus’ two books on Demonic “obsession” or “speaking in unknown languages and hungering for raw meat”

682J Petrus Thyraeus (1546–1601)

Daemoniaci, hoc est: De obsessis a spiritibus daemoniorum hominibus, liber unus: in quo Dæmonum obsidentium conditio: obsessorum hominum Status; rationeel & modi, quibus ab Obseßis Dæmones exiguntur: causæ item tune fifficilis exitus ipsorum, tum signorom quæ exituri relinquunt: locoa demique, quo egreßi tendunt, & his similia, discutiuntur & explicantur.

bound with 

Loca infesta, hoc est: de infestis, ob molestantes daemoniorvm et defvnctorvm hominvm spiritvs, locis, liber vnvs:in quo spirituum infestantium genera, conditiones, vires, discrimina, opera, mala quae viventibus afferunt ; rationes item quibus partim cognoscuntur, partim proscribuntur ; modi denique, quibus loca ab ipsorum molestia liberntur, his’que similia discutiuntur & explicantur. Accessit eiusdem Libellus de terricvlamentis nocturnis quae hominum mortem solent portendere.

)both( Coloniae Agrippinæ: ex officina Mater, Cholini, sumptibus Gosuini Cholini, 1598. . $5,700

Two Quarto volumes bound as one. 19.7 x 15.5 cm. Signatures ad I. (:)⁴(:)(:)², A-Z⁴ Aa-Bb⁴,Cc².  ad II. (:)⁴ (:)(:)⁴, A-Xx⁴ Bound in full vellum binding with gilt title on spine label; ownership notes, some of which deleted, on the title page of the first work. age toning throughout due to bad paper. 

The Dæmonici is considered among the first scientific attempts to explain as well as define demonic possession (“obsession”) and exorcism . 

and 

The Local Infesta is an encyclopedia of Haunted and evil places including Purgatory, Hell and the Underground.

Daemoniaci is comprised of 58 Disputation divided into three sections in which he identifies the behavior “symptoms’ of which are and aren not indicative of dæmons , these are quite amusing analysis of deviant and not so deviant human behaviors, including , sleeping late, unpleasant demeanor or the speaking in unidentifiable languages or desiring raw meat.

Loca Infesta, is an encyclopedia of locals infested by deamons and malefactors, Thyæo relies upon not only historical authors such as Aristotle ,Moyses and Virgil but also modern (contemporary to him) authors including protestant, jews and heretics , Including Zwingli, Melanchthon,Cardanu. This work provides a comprehensive view of the various places and types of demonic infestations that were believed to exist during Thyæo’s time. It is a fascinating read for those interested in the history of demonology and exorcism.

Belowtable of contents from the Dæmoniaci

References 

ad I: DeBacker-Sommervogel vol. VIII col. 15 nº15.; BM STC Ger. C16th. p. 862. ; Caillet 10687.; Thorndike VII 368-9 (VD 16) T 1238.

ad II. DeBacker-Sommervogel vol. VIII col. 16 nº20; USTC 673124; Adams, T700; BnF FRBNF31468196; (VD 16) T 1247.

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