The Historie of the Covncel of Trent.

Royal Arms of Charles I

The second appearance in English of Paolo Sarpi's (1552-1623) Historia del Concilio Tridentino, a thinly veiled attacked on the Papal Curia and the failure of the Council to effect a reconciliation with the Protestant movement.

An excellent example, bound in contemporary gilt-panelled calf with the Royal Arms of the dedicatee King Charles I (1600-1649) to the centre of each cover.

Sixteen varieties of arms have been identified in association with Charles I, this been variant SRA III ('Stuart Royal Arms'), the variant used most exclusively during his reign. Examples can be found on the Guicciardini comprising lot 62 in the Sotheby's Corfield sale, 21st November 1904, and on the Pontanus illustrated as no. 28 of Maggs Bros' Bookbinding in the British Isles, Catalogue 1212, Part I. For a full discussion see Mirjam Foot, 'Some Bindings for Charles I' in Studies in Seventeenth-Century English Literature, History, and Bibliography, ed. Janssens and Aarts, (Amsterdam, Rodopi, 1984), pp95-106.

Sarpi's history was first published pseudonymously in London in 1619. 'A member of the Servite Order, hated yet never excommunicated by the Papal See, Sarpi was the devoted and honoured servant of the Venetian Republic. Like the author in his lifetime, so in later years his books formed a nucleus of opposition to the papacy of Pius IV. Translated and reprinted over and over again, the masterpiece of "Father Paul of Venice", as he was known to generations, is still read' (PMM).

A proponent of the separation of Church and State, Sarpi was prominent amongst the figures involved in the Venetian interdict, a diplomatic quarrel and pamphlet war which broke out between the Republic and Papacy in 1605 to 1607 and resulted in the expulsion of the Jesuits from Venice for the next 50 years. The target of an unsuccessful assassination attempt in 1607 which had been fuelled by religious motives, Sarpi withdrew from public life and spent the remainder of his time working on his history prior to his death in 1623.

Second edition; folio (34.5 x 22.5 cm); text in English, woodcut device to title, woodcut initials, head and tailpieces, armorial bookplate to front pastedown, occasional light toning, but overall a lovely clean example complete with the front blank f.; contemporary armorial gilt panelled calf, the Royal Arms blocked in gilt to the centre of both covers bisecting the initials 'A' and 'W', remains of original ties, the covers slightly abraded with slight loss to gilt work of lower cover, joints slightly split with loss to head of spine, corners rubbed, a very good example; [12], 881 [i.e. 879], [17]pp.

ESTC S116697; cf.PMM 118.