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Early edition of the main work of Savonarola

SAVONAROLA, Girolamo.
Triumphus crucis: De veritate fidei. Fra. Hieronymi de Ferraria. Prædicatoris.






Venice (or Paris?), Lazarus de Soardis, 4 January 1504 8vo. Modern calf, ribbed spine with red title label lettered in gold. The leather of the original binding - blind tooled with ornamented and floral rolls and fillets - preserved and pasted to the boards. 115 lvs. (A-O8, P4-1, without the last blank)

Probably the second edition of the main work, an apology for Christianity by the famous theologian and 'pre-reformer' Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498). The original edition was published in Florence by Bart. di Libri in ca. 1497, shortly before Savonarola's death at the stake. The date 1503 for a Venetian second edition is probably due to a misreading of the colophon: "Finito .. Ex archetypo impresso Venetiis p(er) Lazaru(m) de Soardis; qui obtinuit a d(omi)nio Veneto Anno domini M.D.iii. quod nullus possit impromere: nec imprimi facere in eorum d(omi)nio sub pena ut patet in suis privilegiis. Die. iiii. Januarii. M. qui(n)gentesimo quarto". There is also some confusion as to whether this edition is a Paris reprint of the genuine Venetian edition of the same year.

Born in Ferrara, Savonarola was for some time prior of the Convent of San Marco in Florence. Inspired by an aversion for worldly things, and the highest religious ideals, with his example and his obscurely threatening and prophetic sermons he condemned first the corrupt way of life in Florence, then the church hierarchy in Rome. Ignoring numerous reprimands and contemptuous of danger, he was condemned to death: together with his fellow friars, Domenico da Pesica and Silvestro Maruffi, he was hanged and burnt in Piazza Signoria on 23 May 1498. In fact Savonarola's quarrel was with the corruption of the clergy of whom Alexander VI was merely the most scandalous example, not with the Roman pontiff, for whom he always professed obedience and respect. He was a reformer, but Catholic and Thomist to the marrow; his faith is borne out in his many works, the greatest of which is this Triumphus crucis, a clear exposition of the Christian faith, being reprinted and translated many times till far into the nineteenth century.

The words on the title page have been arranged in the shape of a cross

Fair copy with some 16th century annotations and a 16th century ownership's entry on title: "...  (ex li)bris fratris ..."); with armorial book plate of Kerckhove, with the motto "Endurer pour durer".- (Title severely damaged: stamp removed, with some lost of text of the 'Tabula', printed on the verso).
Brunet V, 161; Giovannozzi 250; Savonarola-Slg der Fürsten Ginori - Conti 141; Adams, p. 519

Related Subjects: 16th Century  Catholicism  Italy  Reformation 

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