A New History of Ecclesiastical Writers: Containing an Account Of the Authors of the Several Books of the Old and New Testament: And the Lives and Writings of the Primitive Fathers; An Abridgement and Catalogue of all their Works; Censures Determining the Genuine and Spurious; A Judgement upon their Style and Doctrine, and The Various Editions of their Writings. To which is added, A Compendious History of the Councils; And many necessary Tables and Indexes. Written in French by Lewis Ellies du Pin. London: A.S. and T.C, 1693-1697.
[Together with]
A New Ecclesiastical History of the Sixteenth Century. Containing an Impartial History of the Reformation of Religion, and other Ecclesiastical Affairs. Especially The Rise and Progress of the Doctrines of Luther, Calvin, Zwinglius, etc. Together with the Lives and Writings of the Ecclesiastical Authors Who Flourished in that Time. London: J. Wilde, 1710.
[Together with]
A Compleat History of the Canon and Writers of the Books of the Old and New Testament, By Way of Dissertation: With Useful Remarks on that Subject. London: H. Rhodes et al., 1699-1700.
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A truly incredible set, quite possibly the single most comprehensive set regarding Christian history, theology, and biography ever produced. It brings together biographies of the writers of the books of the Bible, the Early Church Fathers and their writings, a bibliographical analysis of correct and incorrect attributions of the works of various Church Fathers, a history of ecumenical councils, an impartial history of the Reformation and assessment of the doctrines put forward by leading Reformers (Calvin, Luther, Zwingli, etc), a history of the Council of Trent, the state of religion in England, France, Italy, Germany, Hungary, and other countries during the Reformation, the succession of the Popes, and a history of the canon and writers of the Bible.
17 volumes bound into 9, very fine contemporary panelled full calf folio bindings, all uniformly bound contemporaneously, most likely for the unidentified owner prior to Lord Viscount Lymington who's bookplate covers an earlier one to the front pastedowns. An extremely attractive set of, in our opinion, the greatest set regarding Christian/Church history ever printed in the antiquarian period regarding its scope. Extremely rare.
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Size: 206 x 311 mm (approx., each)
*last two vols are slightly taller
Condition:
[(2), [*1], a-b4, B-2Q4, 2R6, a4, B-2C4, *Dd2, 3G-4K2, (1)]; [(1), a4, B-3P2, 3Q3, 3R-3S2, *2, *B-*U4, *X3, *1, *Y-*Z4, *Aa-*Mm4, *Nn1, (2)]; [(2), t.p., a2, c2, B-2Z2, 3A1, a2, B-V4, *-4*2, a-b2, B-2O2, 2P1, (1)]; [(1), t.p., A-S2, a4, B-2H2, 2I1, A-3C2, (1)]; [(1), 2ff. *1, A4, a1, B-2G2, A-2C2, a4, b1, B-Z2, a-k2, (1)]; [(2), A2, b1, B-3X2, 3Y1, (2)]; [(2), A2, a1, b-c4, B-5F2, (2)]; [(1), a-c2, B-4G2, (1)]; [(1), a-c2, B-3D2, (1)]
Contemporary full panelled calf bindings, the last two volumes bound slightly differently, but contemporaneously to the others. Very attractive indeed on the shelf, slightly varying positions of raised bands and tooled labels, all extant. Remnants of gilt shelf reference numbers to heads of spines. All boards are securely attached, bindings secure. The set stands well together without lean. Original bindings without restoration. Bookplate to front pastedown, seemingly one covering an earlier bookplate, now unnoticeable/imperceptible and so the earliest provenance hasn't been ascertained, but it clearly passed to Lord Viscount Lymington (unknown which), somewhere circa the mid 18th century. Bindings generally in excellent condition, minor rubbing, but overall an extremely attractive set. Collation not checked against an authoritative source (due to lack of one), but appears to collate as complete; the collation is provided above. In the third volume, the beginning quires skip from a to c, but there are no b leaves lacking here and the catchwords follow consecutively. Some toning in the fourth volume, heavy in places, but with the full text legible, blanks toned in fifth volume. A few leaves printed slightly too large and so dog-eared, as often, and fortunately not cut - these are sometimes termed as témoignage. Else generally excellent through the text blocks, without marginalia. An excellent set, overall very good to near fine.
