Epistolae Praepositorum Generalium ad patres et frates Societatis Iesu [BOUND WITH] Instructio [AND] Industriae

Rome: Collegio Romano, 1615. Hardcover. Very good. Three jointly issued works in sammelband, octavo. [8], 396, [4, blank]; [4], 48, [4, index]. [8], 119, [7, index]pp. Lacks final blank leaf. Titles with elaborate woodcut borders and device; woodcut lettrines, head- and tailpieces; printed side notes. Contemporary vellum, ruled and tooled in blind; spine with raised bands, manuscript titles. Old library label at pastedown, shelf labels at spine tail and front endleaf, stamps at verso first two titles. Occasional mild foxing and marginal dampstains; title of first work lightly soiled, with slight marginal tear. A very good, amply margined collection with (truncated) crisp text.

Sammelband of Jesuit letters and two works by Claudio Acquaviva (1543-1615), all jointly issued at Rome in 1615. The fifth General of the Society of Jesus, and the youngest ever to occupy the post, Acquaviva is regarded as “the greatest administrator, after St. Ignatius, the Society ever had” (CE).

I. Epistolae. Collation: [dagger]4, A-2B8 (= 204 leaves; blank 2B7-8). Early augmented edition, first appearing in Italian at Rome in 1606, and in Latin at Toulouse in 1609, the first to contain all the letters of Acquaviva. Preface signed Bernardus de Angelis 5 Dec. 1606. There are 21 letters: two from St. Ignatius Loyola, one each by D. Laines, F. Borja, and E. Mercurian, and 17 by C. Acquaviva. The first is on the virtue of obedience, by St. Ignatius (April 1553); the last (May 1613) is on the formation of preachers. As General, Acquaviva wrote many encyclical letters, “and he is the author of nearly all the “Ordinationes Generalium” which were printed in 1595, with the approbation of the Fifth General Congregation” (CE). Sommervogel 1: 482 / 5: 113. McCrank 1140.

II. Instructio. Collation: A-C8, D4 (= 28 leaves). Early edition, first published at Florence in 1604. Preface dated kalends of January 1604. Sommervogel 1:484, no. 6.

III. Industriae. Collation: [dagger]4, A-G8, H7 (= 67 leaves; lacks blank H8). Early edition, first published at Florence in 1600. Preface dated 15 April 1600. Sommervogel 1:480-481, no. 2. Full titles: Epistolae Praepositorum Generalium ad patres et frates Societatis Iesu [BOUND WITH] Instructio. Pro superioribus ad augendum, conservandumque spiritum in Societate [AND] Industriae. Pro superioribus eiusdem Societatis, ad curando animae morbos. (Inventory #: 49064)