SOCINIAN HERESY – Catechesis Ecclesiarum, quae in Regno Poloniae et magno Ducatu Lithuaniae. Rakow: [Sebastian Sternacki,] 1609. [With:] GITTICHIUS, Michael (d. 1645). De gravissima quaestione num Christus pro peccatis nostris justitiae divinae...

SOCINIAN HERESY – Catechesis Ecclesiarum, quae in Regno Poloniae et magno Ducatu Lithuaniae. Rakow: [Sebastian Sternacki,] 1609. [With:] GITTICHIUS, Michael (d. 1645). De gravissima quaestione num Christus pro peccatis nostris justitiae divinae satisfecerit, necne? Basel: Waldkirch, 1612.

The first Latin edition of the genuine Rakow catechism, summarizing the beliefs of the heretical sect which influenced the Enlightenment—no copies known at auction. Rakow, Poland, was briefly a major center of religious tolerance and radicalism, where Italian exiles promoted the non-Trinitarian Socinian heresy. Their Catechism, “the single most important Socinian book,” was translated into Latin to serve a hungry European audience and dedicated to James I on the basis of his supposed religious tolerance. The devout king was not flattered, and parliament ordered the work burnt in 1614. While several editions bearing the Rackow imprint were actually printed decades later in London, the genuine 1609 Rackow edition is distinguished by the woodcut title border. No copies have appeared at auction according to ABPC and RBH. British Library 3506.a.2; Kawecka-Gryczowa 90; see STC 20083.3 (false imprint).

12mo (131 x 75mm). Woodcut title border (slightly cropped, closed tear p. 217, second work faintly toned). Contemporary vellum with yapp edges (lacking ties). Provenance: early ownership inscription on title – library inscriptions on spine (erased) and front flyleaf.