Provenance: Johan Elers, Jacob Berggren & Pro Finlandia

Paolo Sarpi:

Histoire du Concile de Trente, ecrite en italien par Fra Paolo Sarpi [...] et traduite de nouveau en françois, avec des notes critiques, historiques et theologiques, par Pierre-François Le Courayer. 1-2.

A Basle, chez Jean Brandmuller et fils, 1738. 4to. [10] + LXXVI + 696; + [2] + 848 pp. Titles printed in red & black.

Two volumes. Contemporary mottled calf, spines gilt in compartments with red and blue labels, red edges, marbled endpapers. Slight wear, a few leaves with insignificant marginal paper flaws with no loss of text, slight occasional foxing. Bookplates of the Pro Finlandia auction (1940) and of Bo Sture Wiking. Old ownership inscriptions on titles of Johan Elers (1730-1813) and of Jacob Berggren (1790-1868).

History of the Council of Trent (Concilium Tridentinum), held between 1545 and 1563 in Trento in northern Italy, the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation, it has been described as the embodiment of the Counter-Reformation. Paolo Sarpi (1552-1623) was a Venetian historian, prelate, scientist, canon lawyer, and statesman active on behalf of the Venetian Republic during the period of its successful defiance of the papal interdict (1605-07). His writings, polemical and highly critical of the Catholic Church and its Scholastic tradition, ”inspired both Hobbes and Edward Gibbon in their own historical debunkings of priestcraft”. Sarpi's major work was the the present History of the Council of Trent.

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