Beschrijving
Without titlepage (modern copy added), overview of 103 religious orders with 103 beautiful woodcut illustrations.
[Frankfurt (Francoforti), Sigmund Feyerabend (Sigismundi Feyrabendij), 1585], 4to., it seems to be bound as an interleaved copy with the blank pages cut away, so the binding has an album like appearance with the spine thicker than the rest of the book block, full parchment spitsel binding with yap edges and red coloured book block edges, 214 pp (pagenumbers are added in ink), darkened edges and somewhat stained parchment, some tears and creases here and there FrF(especially the first few pages), but overall and considering its age, in good condition. The description of each religious order (verse by Franciscus Modius, 1556-1597) is accompanied by a beautiful woodcut illustration after Jost Amman, 1539-1591. The plates depict the costume of a number of religious figures, from the Pope to parish priests and mendicant friars, with additional subjects such as Spanish penitents, Templars, Knights of Rhodes, Teutonic Knights and various orders of monks and nuns. The work is accompanied by an additional work by Modius concerning the history of various religious orders and the background to the various vestments, with a seperate titlepage: ‘Francisci Modii Liber singularis: In quo cuiusque ordinis Ecclesiastici origo, progerssus, & vestitus ratio breuiter ex varijs Historicis quasi delineatur’ (Frankfurt, Sigmund Feyerabend, 1585).
The book was first published in 1585 in German as well as Latin. This copy concerns a first edition in Latin with illustrated descriptions of 103 religious orders. The order of the pages is different in the German and the Latin version, and the order of the pages in this Latin copy differs from the order of the digitised copy available on archive.org. The ‘Nullatorum ordo’ is missing in the online archive.org version, but is present in our copy.
Lit: Andresen, Der Deutsche Peintre-Graveur 1560-1800, volume 1 (1973), p. 386
