Apocalypsis, das ist die Offenbarung S. Johannis (The Apocalypse, That Is the Revelation of Saint John)

Frankfurt: Johann Spiess, 1593. Second edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Small quarto. Signed: [reverse parens and colon]-3[reverse parens and colon]4 A-5D4 (= 396 leaves): [24], 764 [i.e. 766], [1 colophon], [1 blank]pp., 27 woodcut illustrations in the text (two prints (pp. 204, 713) signed with monogram I with M.) Pagination 111-112 repeated; page [115] numbered 111; 256 as 25. Title in red and black, within elaborate historiated woodcut border; printed marginalia; woodcut lettrines; half-page woodcut printer’s device at colophon. Contemporary limp vellum. A few early underlinings and marginal annotations. Slight worm trace at inner margin 2A-2F (no (truncated) loss of text); paper fault with loss of a few letters of side-notes 2H4. Occasional touches of mild foxing at margins; overall a very good copy.

Quarto edition of these uncommon illustrated sermons by the Protestant theologian and satyrist Georg Nigrinus (1530-1602) of Bettenberg, originally printed in folio format at Orsel in 1573 (VD 16 S-4622). The preface to that edition, dated 25 January 1572, notes that the sermons were preached two years earlier. A fine example of art in the service of sectarian polemics, the present work appeared at a time of riotous iconoclastic mayhem throughout the German Protestant realms, when illustrated editions of commentaries and sermons on the apocalyptic texts of the Bible became vehicles in the propaganda wars of the Reformation era: “The commentaries on the Apocalypse were indeed generally the occasion for the most unbridled attacks on the papacy and the ‘papists’; they were accompanied with woodcuts and ‘dainty rhymes,’ in order that ‘the common people might have the devilish horrors of the Romish school of Satan vividly before their eyes, and that they might retain the verses indelibly in their memory.’ It was thus that the Superintendent George Nigrinus, among others, in 1593, dealt with the publication of his sixty sermons on the Apocalypse” (Janssen). Nigrinus’ sermons on Daniel were published in 1574.

"Nigrinus was a master of German prose and the rhyming couplet. [August Friedrich Christian] Vilmar correctly judged: 'This prolific writer, known as a satirical polemicist ... is one of the most important writers in Hesse in the 16th century due to the vividness of the presentation that prevails in all his writings, both prosaic and rhymed.'" A versatile translator, and a celebrated preacher, Nigrinus was above all "a highly learned representative of the Confessional Age, primarily concerned with the presentation of the Lutheran doctrine of justification and the general strenthening of Calvinism against the Roman Counter-Reformation" (NDB 19). That he was judged highly adept in these polemical endeavors "can be seen from the fact that Landgrave Wilhelm twice gave him the significant sum of 40 thalers so that he could buy the necessary books" (ADB 23).

Annotations: Early owner entry at the bottom margin of the title; [in a different old hand] 18 lines of verse beginning at the bottom half of the final text leaf (p.764) and continuing at the verso of the final leaf (bleeding through to the printer's device), with signature.

A note on the printer: Johann Spiess published in 1587 at Frankfurt the first (anonymous) collection of the Faust legends, now usually referred to as the Spiess Faust-book. Full title and imprint: Apocalypsis, das ist die Offenbarung S. Johannis desz Apostels und Evangelisten. In diesen letzten trübseligen Zeiten, allen rechten Christen zum Trost und Besserung wider das Antichristliche Reich, und alle Feinde der wahren Christlichen Kirchen, auffs trewlichst und fleissigst erkläret und aussgeleget. Gedruckt zu Franckfurt am Mayn durch Johann Spies im Jar M.D.XCIII.

References: Graesse 4: 677. J. Janssen, History of the German People at the Close of the Middle Ages 11 (1907), 64. Le Long, Bibl. Sacra 2 (1723), 880-E. Link, Adolf, "Nigrinus, Georg" in: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie 23 (1886), S. 695-698 Mahlmann, Theodor, "Nigrinus, Georg" in: Neue Deutsche Biographie 19 (1999), pp. 255-256. VD 16 S-4623. Not in: Adams; Soltesz; Knaake; nor the Fairfax-Murray Sale Catalogue (1917). (Inventory #: 48882)