Christelycke Oefeninghe ende Meditatien.

Antwerp, Martin Nutij, 1620.

Thick 8vo (17.3 x 10.6 cm). [32] (including engraved title), 664, [8] pp. (the last unnumbered pages comprising index plus separate leaf for license). Bound in contemporary Antwerp calf, stamped and ruled in blind, remains of gilt emblem to center of both covers; head of spine and corners worn. Extra-illustrated with a full-page engraving by Bolswert (contemporary with the binding) facing the engraved title. Several early Flemish ownership inscriptions on flyleaf and verso of title page. Title heavily soiled and a handful of leaves stained, but generally a fresh copy, printed in woodcut borders throughout, with one or two initials colored red.

Extremely rare first edition of these devotional meditations by a Flemish Jesuit, published in the vernacular during the height of the Counter-Reformation. Known as a prolific author of Jesuit texts, Scribani also stood as a staunch figurehead of the Counter-Reformation in the Low Countries – a region of particular concern for Catholics following the bloody Protestant uprising in Antwerp in 1585. An interesting copy for containing on the front end paste-down an engraved prayer card by Bolswert (see below).

As hinted at by the fine allegorical engraved title page (replete with a Mannerist cartouche at the foot depicting tormented souls in Hell), Scribani’s Meditatien deal with subjects ranging from original sin to the Passion of Christ. Interestingly, while the prefatory remarks and chapter headings are written in a clear roman type, the main body of the text remains in blackletter, placing it solidly into the popular sphere. As the historian of the Reformation Euan Cameron has remarked, one of the main reasons for the success of that movement was that it ‘flattered the laypeople’. Texts such as Scribani’s, although late in coming, eventually answered the call for vernacular devotional works of a militantly Catholic bent.

The present copy has been extra-illustrated with an engraving by Bolswert facing the title page. Bolswert’s large oeuvre is not well-catalogued, but the leading authority on the engraver, Dr Ralph Dekoninck (CU Louvain) has never seen it, and on the basis of the prayer engraved at the bottom, believes it to be a separately issued prayer card. The full-page engraving depicts tormented souls bathing in hellfire, with speech bubbles expressing their misery, while more pious souls rejoice above in Heaven. An “Oratio et Explicatio Imaginis per Numeros” at the foot of the leaf includes a brief prayer to be recited.

Karel Scribani (1561-1629) was an influential Flemish Jesuit, becoming Provincial of that territory in 1613. A close friend of the humanist Justus Lipsius, Scribani also appears to have enjoyed something of a reputation as a celebrity theologian, maintaining friendships with Rubens and Van Dyck while being fêted by monarchs from Ferdinand II of Germany to Henry IV. The most important surviving portrait of Scribani was in fact painted by Van Dyck upon request, and currently hangs in the Gemälde Gallery in Vienna.

OCLC records just one U.S. copy of the present first edition of the Meditatien, held by the University of Michigan. A 1625 edition is also held by Michigan and Bowdoin College.