De imitatione Christi.

Antwerp: Ex Officina Plantiniana, Apud Balthasarem Moretum, & Viduam Ioannis Moreti, & Io. Meursium,, 1626. Christ as spiritual leader An attractive copy of this Plantinian edition in Latin of Thomas A Kempis's masterpiece, The Imitation of Christ (c.1418-1427), here edited by the Belgian Jesuit hagiographer Héribert Rosweyde (1569-1629). First published in 1617, the Rosweyde edition is noted, in a 1883 edition in English, as one of two "best Latin editions" (p. xxi); both were published by Plantin. Mainly composed of aphorisms and maxims advocating humility, resignation and abnegation, this work has known the greatest number of impressions, after the Bible. "This little book never left me, in summer in my pocket, in winter in my sleeve. I knew almost all the chapters by heart" (Sainte-Thérèse de Lisieux). In this edition, the Certissima Testimonia replace the Elogia Magnorum Virorum of earlier editions published between 1617 and 1622. Duodecimo (136 x 76 mm). Engraved title vignette and full-page illustration, historiated woodcut initials. Early 18th-century vellum with early 19th-century manuscript title to spine, raised bands, decorative motif in blind to compartments, red and blue mottled edges. Housed in an 18th-century custom mottled calf pull-off case tooled in blind (a little scuffed), lined with flower-patterned paper. Neat early ownership signature to title page. The binding firm and clean, internally crisp; an excellent copy.