Extended Latin edition of a celebrated Protestant martyrology, in a beautiful contemporary blind-stamped pigskin binding, which has been signed by the binder. The work comprises descriptions of the lives and works of early Reformers as Wyclif, Hus, and Jerome of Prague as well as of many lesser known martyrs of later times who entertained Nonconformist or heretical views. It contains the texts of numerous contemporary documents, including confessions of faith, court reports, eye witness accounts, and letters to and from the prisoners, and is therefore an important source on the Reformation.
The work was first published in 1554 in French as Livre des martyrs. The first Latin edition was published in 1556. The present work is the second Latin edition, which has been enlarged with additional biographies, a new author's preface (dated March 1560), a poem by François Bérault, and two lengthy poems by Jean Tagaut. The first of the latter consists of 551 verses entitled "Protrepticon ad Hieropolin", i.e. "Exhortation to the Holy City", which refers to Geneva.
Jean Crespin (ca. 1520-1572) was born in Arras, but studied law in Leuven, where he learned about the Reformation, and became a sympathiser. When this was discovered, he had to give up his career as a lawyer and flee to Geneva, where he set up a printing-press. He published numerous works by Genevan reformers as Calvin, Beza and Bullinger, promoting the Protestant cause. As an author, Crespin's greatest work is unquestionably the present martyrology which considerably contributed to influence the spread of Calvinism.
Ad 2: Second augmented edition of Pibrac's (1529-1584) apologetic narrative of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of 1572. The first edition appeared earlier in 1573 but without the second part (pp. 47-95), printed here for the first time. This substantial and most interesting addition consists of the "Responsio" attributed to Joachim Camerarius who is believed to hide under the pseudonym Stanislaus Elvidius.
Ad 3: Apparently unrecorded pamphlet containing four Latin elegiac poems to the memory of Gaspard de Coligny, the admiral leader of the Huguenots under Charles IX, and a prominent victim of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. The edition is without name of place or printer; at the end appear the initials A.Q.F. An impressive gathering of texts relating to the Calvinist movement.
The binding, which has been very well preserved, shows the arms of the Holy Roman Empire on the front, and the arms of August of Saxony on the back, both with a short text underneath. Interestingly, the text on the front mentions the name "S. Rab." Nagler has found a very similar binding from 1598 with the same arms, and also signed by S. Rab. According to him, Rab was a bookbinder and stamp cutter who worked in Frankfurt am Main. We have not been able to determine whether there is a relationship between this S. Rab and the Wittenberg binder Steffan Rabe, who used the initials S.R., and who used identical stamps, according to the Einbanddatenbank. Rabe is said to have died in 1569 but his panels, according to Goldschmidt, may have passed on to Thomas Reuter, bookbinder at Wittenberg from 1567-1595.
The pigskin has been slightly rubbed, but is overall very clear. The work is somewhat browned throughout, F3 and F4 have been bound in the wrong order. Otherwise in good condition. Ad 1: Adams C 2937; Bibliotheca Belgica C 349; Gilmont, Bibliographie Jean Crespin, 60/5 (issue a); USTC 450286; ad 2: Pettegree & Walsby 82884; USTC 171110; ad 3: USTC 675609; VD 16 ZV 23033; cf. for the binding: Einbanddatenbank p000345 (similar binding); Goldschmidt 236 (similar binding); Nagler, Die monogrammisten V, 281.