LUTHER, Martin.

Handsome copy of the second edition of this collection of Luther s writings, in a beautiful contemporary German binding. The elegant blind tooled palmettes and this religious roll depicting figures of the Old Testament were both popular decorative motifs in the mid. 16th century (see EBDB 128997b and 100083n), and often used combined. Interestingly, similar examples appear on the binding of another volume of Luther works, produced in Leipzig by Thomas Stelbogen (Henry Davis Gift 335). The upper cover bears the ownership stamp of Frau Margarethe von Hassenstein (c. 1514-1555), from the house of the Burgraves of Meissen (Saxony). Born Magarethe von Plauen, she married the Bohemian politician Bohuslav Felix von Hassenstein and Lobkowitz (1517-1583). An educated woman and assiduous Lutheran, her name appears frequently in the writings of Johannes Mathesius (1504-1565). Mathesius was a German minister and Lutheran reformer who had the privilege to assist, as a guest in Luther s home, to a series of his discourses, which he then published in the famous work Table talk .

A professor of theology and monk, Luther (1483-1546) is the initiator of the protestant Reformation. This collection contains a multitude of his writings, the majority of them being sermons. Among the most noteworthy, is Luther s famous commentary on chapters 5, 6 and 7 of the Gospel of Matthew: in his discussion, he strongly criticised the Catholic view and wrote: "there have fallen upon this [fifth] chapter the vulgar hogs and asses, jurists and sophists, the right hand of the pope and his Mamelukes." Another interesting chapter is concerned with the text of the Donation of Constantine the Roman imperial decree by which Constantine the Great supposedly entitled the pope extensive temporal privileges translated and commented on by Luther. Although this Latin document was declared a fake by Lorenzo Valla in 1440, the Church continued to defend its authenticity for centuries. After reading Valla s treatise in 1520, Luther frequently mentioned this as an example to condemn the corruption and greed of the Catholic Church.

This volume includes an important preface by the theologian Philip Melanchthon (1497-1560). A friend and collaborator of Luther, he wrote a fundamental systematic theology based on the reformer s ideas. The editor, Georg Rörer (1492-1557), is one of Luther s most reliable reporters. The volume also features the remarkable contributions of Caspar Creuziger (1504-1548), a humanist and professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg who wrote an important biography of Luther and assisted him in revising the German Bible.