Opere di F. Paolo Sarpi Servita. 2 vols.

In Helmstat Per Jacopo Mulleri, MDCCLXI. Hardcover bound in vellum. 2 vols. viii, 148, 364; 463 pp. Contains a memoire of Sarpi’s life by Francesco Griselini, and the full text of Sarpi’s most famous work, The History of the Council of Trent, plus Appendix. Frontispiece portrait engraving of Sarpi; engraved title vignettes; engraved pictorial headpieces; engraved ornamental tailpieces, and two engraved plates illustrating four popes each in medallions. Vellum soiled and slighly bowed, as usual; vellum on vol. 1 chipped at head of spine and board edges, including shallow 5″ long strip of vellum missing on outer edge of back cover; label residue at foot of spine (both volumes); light damp stain to lower corner of vol. 2 interior (not affecting text), and some slight rippling; very small faint stain to upper margin of vol. 1 interior (not affecting text); interiors otherwise bright, clean & tight. Sarpi (1552-1623) was a scholar, canon lawyer, a member of the Servite order, and a church reformer whose writings nearly got him assassinated by alleged papal hitmen in 1607. Included in the Appendix is a dedication to James I of England by de Dominis, Archbishop of Spalato, for the first edition of the History published in England in 1619. De Dominis was later lampooned as the Fat Bishop in Thomas Middleton’s notorious play and nine-day wonder of the Jacobean stage, “A Game at Chess” (1624). Text in Italian.