A handsome copy, uncut, of the first German edition of this compendium of the hierarchy and orders of the church, abundantly illustrated with 102 woodcuts by prolific woodcutter and illustrator, Jost Amman (1539-1591).
Printed in the same year as the Latin edition Cleri totius Romanae Ecclesiae subiecti, also from the press of Sigmund Feyerabend, each page features a full-length woodcut of ecclesiastical figures - both male and female - representing a different order or level of the church hierarchy, with a brief history or description of their order above, and verse below. The text here is that of Johannes Lonitzer (1497-1659), theologian and philologist. The present, German edition appears less common than its Latin counterpart; this work was also issued with a variant title page with date expressed ‘MDLXXXV’.
Amman’s woodcuts begin with figures from the highest heights of the established church - including a lavishly robed and throned Pope, cardinals, archbishops and patriarchs - to representative examples of the most humble and penurious orders. Present here are Carmelites (LVII), Olivetans (XCV), Augustinian hermits (LVIII), Dominicans (LX), Jacobites (LXVIII), Capucins (LXXI), Benedictine Williamites (LXXVIII), and so on. All have been depicted by Amman wearing distinctly different dress, and holding various objects and instruments of devotion, or items illustrating their daily ritual. These are most commonly open prayerbooks, girdle books and rosaries, but also include swords, held by members of militant orders (see the Jacobites, LXVIII, and the Order of Malta LXXV, for example), as well as tools for self-mortification, including disciplines, multistranded whips (see Spanish Flagellant, CI) and bundles of branches (see German Flagellant, LXXX). It is international in focus, including orders from Malta, Spain, Hungary and Scotland, as well as Germany, and encompasses ten female orders, including Dominican sisters (XC), Bridgettines (LXXXIIII), and Poor Clares (XCII).
Some browning, but a lovely, wide-margined copy in good condition.
VD16 ZV 24496. BMSTC German, p.524. NGA, In the Library: Jost Amman and Sixteenth-Century Woodcut Illustration, no.16 (for Latin edition).
