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De Moscovia ad Clementem 7. pont. max. Albertus Campensis. Venice: apud Paulum Girardum, 1543.
Details
PIGHIUS, Albertus (1490-1542)
De Moscovia ad Clementem 7. pont. max. Albertus Campensis. Venice: apud Paulum Girardum, 1543.
Rare first and only edition of a treatise on the state of Muscovy: according to RareBookHub, no copies have appeared at auction. We are able to trace just two copies in libraries outside of Italy (British Library and National Library of Russia).
Written in 1524 and published posthumously, the text takes the form of a letter addressed to Pope Clement VII and provides a description of Muscovy and its people, focusing particularly on religious practices, social customs, and the feasibility of bringing the Muscovites into communion with the Roman Catholic Church. According to Pighius, the unique social and moral characteristics of Russian society meant its citizens were in some effect ‘waiting to become Catholics’ (Poe). He also ‘warned of the strength and size of Russia, suggesting that an alliance with Russia against the Ottomans might be an idea whose time had come. He also thought that the Russian Orthodox Church could be helpful with the Counter-Reformation’ (Butler). John Anthony Butler, Sir Jerome Horsey’s Travels and Adventures in Russia and Eastern Europe, 2018; Marshall T. Poe, A People Born to Slavery, 2000; USTC 848739.
Octavo (151 x 102mm). With the final blank. Woodcut title device and opening initial (spots to title, variable dampstain at lower out corner). Early carta rustica (lightly rubbed and soiled, some ink trials and numbering).
De Moscovia ad Clementem 7. pont. max. Albertus Campensis. Venice: apud Paulum Girardum, 1543.
Rare first and only edition of a treatise on the state of Muscovy: according to RareBookHub, no copies have appeared at auction. We are able to trace just two copies in libraries outside of Italy (British Library and National Library of Russia).
Written in 1524 and published posthumously, the text takes the form of a letter addressed to Pope Clement VII and provides a description of Muscovy and its people, focusing particularly on religious practices, social customs, and the feasibility of bringing the Muscovites into communion with the Roman Catholic Church. According to Pighius, the unique social and moral characteristics of Russian society meant its citizens were in some effect ‘waiting to become Catholics’ (Poe). He also ‘warned of the strength and size of Russia, suggesting that an alliance with Russia against the Ottomans might be an idea whose time had come. He also thought that the Russian Orthodox Church could be helpful with the Counter-Reformation’ (Butler). John Anthony Butler, Sir Jerome Horsey’s Travels and Adventures in Russia and Eastern Europe, 2018; Marshall T. Poe, A People Born to Slavery, 2000; USTC 848739.
Octavo (151 x 102mm). With the final blank. Woodcut title device and opening initial (spots to title, variable dampstain at lower out corner). Early carta rustica (lightly rubbed and soiled, some ink trials and numbering).
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