Rare

 

A list of works uncatalogued in the Rare Books Collection of the Carmelite Library was compiled in March 2022 and sent to the significance assessor for his inclusion in his report. The report, and other documents, will go to the Significance Assessment people at the National Library of Australia at the end of April. ‘1606 Joannis Maldonati. Commentarii in quattuor Euangelistas, in 2 volumes. Venetiis, Apud Sessas,’ is my first entry on the uncatalogued list. Not the oldest book in the collection by a long way (1538) but like all the rare books, a conjuror of imagined time. Juan Maldonado was a Jesuit who taught in Paris in the previous century. His classes were in Latin, like his books. This would have been a standard textbook on the Gospels, published in Venice at the height of its glory, only seven years before the arrival of the composer Claudio Monteverdi in the city. ‘1642 circa Jacques d’Ypes. La vie de la Saincte Mere Terese de Iesvs. Lacks title page and colophon,’ which is not much help, full identification of this biography of Teresa of Avila requiring me eventually to roam online databases, piecing together known facts until a match is secured. This may happen, we will see. ‘1644 Les oevvres de la Sainte Mere Terese de Iesvs. Edited by Cyprien de la Nativité de la Vierge (1605-80). Paris, Chez Denys de la Noüe’ is an example of the arrival of the Order in France after the conclusion of the French Wars of Religion in 1598. The translated works of Teresa were being made available widely for the locals, likewise those of her singular associate known to us as St. John of the Cross: ‘1652 Les oevvres spiritvelles du B. Pere Iean de la Croix. Edited by Cyprien de la Nativité de la Vierge. Paris, Vevve Pierre Chevalier.’ The entrenched Catholicism of 17^th and 18^th century France is visible in the copious volumes of cloth paper, vellum and/or leather, like ‘1693 Collegi Salmanticensis FF. Discalceatorum B. Mariae de Monte Carmeli. Tomus Nonus. Patavii, Apud Joannem Franciscum Brigoncium,’ the ultimate backup position of the Theological School of Salamanca, last word in Tridentine correctness. With, by lively contrast, the combative works of the era’s frontline shock troops, exemplified by this work published in Milan: ‘1750 Libero de Jesus. Controversiarum scholastic-polemico-historico-criticarum. Tomus Quintus. Mediolani, Petri Francisci Malatestae.’ The Library has over 500 pre-1850 rare books that we have been cleaning, identifying, and arranging into chronological octavo and quarto order, for easy access. The process has been most enjoyable, financed with the help of a Community Heritage Grant from Canberra. Spirituality outnumbers polemic in this collection, as you might expect.