Vita Hadriani Sexti Pontificis Maximi.
Louvain, R. Rescius 1536.
4to (195 x 152 mm.). [ix], [98]p. Paragraphs and headlines alternately marked in red and blue.
Early 19th-century polished tan calf, floral gilt frame, flat spine and red morocco labels gilt, pale blue glazed endleaves, all edges gilt.
First Edition of the first biography of the only Dutch pope — a contemporary account by his former pupil at Louvain. Born Adriaan Florensz Boeyens (1459-1523), Pope Adrian VI was a compromise candidate who wanted to reform the Vatican, but he died just twenty months into his pontificate, which was mired by his ineffective handling of Luther, the loss of Rhodes to the Ottomans and Italian snobbishness at Adrian’s unfashionable Dutchness. Here Morignus (also Morinck) attempts to correct the record, praising Adrian’s piety and work ethic with plenty of personal anecdotes. This Life’s prominent inclusion in Caspar Burmann’s 1727 source book on Adrian helped cement the pope’s positive legacy. I locate two copies in U.S. collections. In nice condition (small marginal rust hole), ownership inscription of the Bruges Jesuits dated 1630, printed book label of University of Ghent librarian P.-P.-C. Lammens (1762-1836; not in his 1839 sale catalog).
¶Santing, “Adrian of Utrecht. The Formation of the Historio-graphical Image of the Dutch Pope” in Fragmenta (2010) 161-72; Nijhoff & Kronenberg, Nederlandsche Bibliographie van 1500 tot 1540 1545; STCV 12927090.
Price: $4,200.00