[VIEXMONT, Claude De & Pedro De SOTO.]

METHODIS CONFESSIONUS, hoc est, ars sive ratio, &c. bevis quaedam via confitendi, in qua peccata & eorum remedia plenissime continentur. Ad haec XII. articulorum fidei cum pia, tumerudita explanatio.

      [Antwerp] Antverpiae : in audibus Ioan Steelfij, 1556. cr.8vo, (88x70mm), 272 leaves, printer's device on the title, paper repairs to the first six leaves with minor textual loss to three, and a small worn trail in the head of the final three leaves. Contemporary (?original) full vellum, blind tooled roll within a three line frame on the covers and with a diagonal blind fillet in the spine compartments, painted red vellum lettering piece (blank) on the backstrip, the covers slightly distorted. A rare Antwerp printing of this popular schoolbook for teaching Latin grammar through confession and penitential prayer. First published in Paris in 1531 for students of the College of Navarre, the book appeared under several variations of the title and was first revised by Pedro de Soto (probably the Jesuit of the same name) at the time of a Venice edition of 1545. A number of editions appeared in France, Germany, Italy and the Low Countries in the next half-century; none of them now in any way common, as befits a schoolbook that should have worn out through continual use. Despite the faults noted above, the internal condition on the whole is clean and bright and the manner of binding worthy of attention. The semi-stiff vellum binding has slightly distorted with time (or storage conditions) but not unduly so and is attractively ornamented with a blind tooled frame on the front and rear covers, vellum ties at the fore-edge have however, been lost. Is it possible that this is an early example of a publisher's binding? Vellum would make an excellent and hard-wearing material for a book designed for frequent, and perhaps rough, handling. Another point leading us towards this possibility is the cost-conscious construction of the binding which is composed of two pieces of vellum, one covering the front board and extending around the spine and about a quarter of the way across the rear board, where it overlays another piece of slightly different coloured vellum. However, the tooling is unbroken leaving us to suspect that this was as originally bound. An interesting little book we submit.