Catechismus brevis Chistianae disciplinae summam continens,

first appearance of Edward VI's Catechism and Forty-Two Articles

The defining doctrinal statement of the Edwardian Reformation, and the basis of Anglican doctrine today.

One of four variant issues of the rare first publication of Edward VI's Latin catechism and the Forty-Two Articles agreed at the Synod of London in 1552. It was in this document that Calvinist thought reached the zenith of its influence over the doctrinal direction of the Church of England. Yet, the untimely death of Edward and the accession of his Roman Catholic sister Mary the following year put rest to their practical introduction in England until the reign of Elizabeth I, when in revised form the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion were incorporated in 1571 into the Book of Common Prayer.

The text of the Catechism has long been attributed to the theologian Edward Ponet (d.1556), having been identified as the author by Sir John Cheke in a letter to Heinrich Bullinger dated 7th June, 1553. An English translation was completed and printed by John Day under the title 'A short catechisme, or playne instruction...' the same year.

Even by the standards of his contemporaries, Ponet was a man of prodigious learning, being accomplished in Greek, Latin, Italian and German. Little is known of his life prior to his graduation as BA from Queen's College, Cambridge in 1533. The same year he was elected a Fellow of the College and proceeded to MA in 1535 before being ordained as a priest in 1536. He later served as Chaplain to Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, before being nominated Bishop of Rochester in 1550 and Bishop of Winchester the following year, in which capacity he served until his exile following Mary's accession to the throne in 1553.

Our example with 9 lines of text in the second paragraph on the title-page, the 'C' in signature 'c.iii' under 'æ' of 'inhæserint' and the last line beginning 'parum', and with the articles in their unnumbered state. The text seemingly does not conform to any extant ESTC collation, being a hybrid of ESTC S120533 (the title-page) and S117405 (with the text ending on the verso of 'i.iv', and a colophon on the recto of 'i.v', but our copy without the 3 terminal blank leaves). Lacking only one leaf of text ('f.i').

Rare. Peter Heylyn, in his Certamen Epistolare published in 1659, noted 'this Catechism is so hard to come by, that scarce one scholar in 500 hath ever heard of it; and hardly one in a 1000 hath ever seen it' (see Biblotheca Heberiana).

With important provenance for the pioneering female book collector Frances Mary Richardson Currer (1785-1861), bearing her armorial bookplate to the front free endpaper. 'T.F. Dibdin considered that Currer's collection placed her "at the head of all female collectors in Europe" (Reminiscences, 2.949) and that her country house library was, in its day, surpassed only by those of Earl Spencer, the Duke of Devonshire, and the Duke of Buckingham. Seymour De Ricci wrote that she was "England's earliest female bibliophile" (De Ricci, 141)' (ODNB).

The Catechismus is listed on p.32 A Catalogue of the Library of Miss Currer at Eshton Hall compiled by Robert Triphook in 1820.

First edition; 8vo (13.5 x 9 cm); 9 lines of text in second paragraph of title-page, 'C' of signature 'C.III' under 'æ' of 'inhæserint' and last line begins 'parum', articles unnumbered, historiated initial 'C' on f. a.ii with contemporary hand colouring in red, lacking leaf 'f.i' and (?) the 3 terminal blank leaves, early MS index in pen to verso of colophon, a few early annotations to title-page, later trimmed close at headline obscuring early ink inscription and causing occasional loss to printed headlines, the odd early pen note and underlining, later prescient note in pen to title verso 'Do not cut this out', small wormhole running through first 3 quires at gutter margin with occasional minor loss to text, early paper repairs to title and final few ff of text, bookplates to front endpapers, lacking blank f.; bound in the early 19th-century in half red roan, marbled paper boards, spine lettered in gilt, rubbed with slight shelf lean, very good; [136 (of 138 or 144(?))]pp; foliation: a-e^viii f^ii-viii h^viii-i^v

cf. ESTC S120533 & S117405; STC 4808 & 4807; Bibliotheca Heberiana, Part the Seventh, 1079; A Catalogue of the Library of Miss Currer at Eshton Hall, p.32.