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Estimate: $ 2,500 - $ 3,500
Bede, the Venerable, Saint (673-735) The History of the Church of Englande.
Antwerp: Imprinted by John Laet, 1565.
[Bound with] an incomplete copy of Thomas Stapleton's (1535-1598) A Fortresse of the Faith First Planted among us Englishmen, Antwerp: John Laet, 1565, lacking the first four leaves [signature A]; two quarto volumes bound together; the Bede is a first English translation by Stapleton, illustrated with three large text woodcuts and the large woodcut arms of Queen Elizabeth I, the dedicatee and reigning sovereign, on verso of title; the titles bound together in 18th century red morocco, tooled in gilt with the crest of the Society of Writers to the Signet on both boards, aeg.; some spotting to contents; front joint cracking; ex libris Isaac Reed with his ink stamp, 7 1/8 x 5 1/4 in.
"Stapleton engaged in controversy with the verve one expects in 16th century polemicists, and not merely against his fellow English but also his coreligionists. [...] Certainly, he could heap invective against Bishops Jewel and Horne; and his animadversions on Luther enliven his foundational critique of Protestantism in his treatise on justifcation. But Stapleton's sharpest invectives he reserved for John Calvin. [...] Stapleton's was the first English rendering of Bede's work, and his effort eventually formed part of the curriculum at the English College at Douai." (Quoted from From Rome to Zurich, Between Ignatius and Vermigli:Essays in Honor of John Patrick Donnelly, SJ, Brill, 2017, ed. Gary W. Jenkins et al., pages 71-72.)
