A FAMOUS CRONICLE OF OURE TIME, CALLED SLEIDANES COMMENTARIES, CONCERNING THE STATE OF RELIGION AND COMMONWEALTH, DURING THE RAIGNE OF THE EMPEROUR CHARLES THE FIFT, WITH THE ARGUMENTES SET BEFORE EVERY BOOKE CONTEYNINGE THE SUMME OR EFFECT OF THE BOOKE FOLLOWING; Translated out of Latin into Englishe, by Ihon Daus. Here unto is added also an Apology of the Authoure

London: Imprinted by Iohn Daie (John Day) for Nicolas Englande, MDLX, The 26 Daie of September, 1560. Second state in English. Leather-bound. Very Good. Folio. (9 5/8" x 6 3/4"). Rebound at some point in sympathetic calf, with earlier spine affixed. This spine, which has five raised bands, has what appear to be a repeating pattern of strawberries (?) blindstamped into each compartment except that of the title, which itself is blindstamped into its compartment. Scuffing to boards, evidence of reconstituted corners, rubbing and wear to entire length of spine, but. but book is very tightly bound. with blue Ex Libris bookplate affixed to front pastedown which reads "Anderson" and "Stand Sure", below a shield with two wolves and two black stars surrounding a black cross, ribboned border, and a tree at the top. Marbled endpapers. Woodcut arms of Francis, Earl of Bedford on title, Che Sara Sara* motto below. Stain to part of title page, perhaps to obscure manuscript words

Printed in Black Letter with Preface in large italic. Historiated Initials in woodcut. All edges rubricated. In xxvi Bookes: [6], 44cccclxxi, [17] leaves + 1 (blank). Side notes. Each page with folio number at top right on recto, Roman year corresponding to the history, at top left on verso. Only occasional marginal pencil bracketings or light markings. Tidelines to a number of page edges, some of which were mounted, in general preserving the running topics in the margins, but a few pages have lost a small outer portion of the topical comments. Translated by Ihon Daus (A translation of De statu religionis et reipublicae, Carolo Quinto Caesare, commentarii.). (ESTC Citation # S115937); (STC #19848a). Sleidane's COMMENTARIES "provide the first account of the history of the Protestant Church from Luther's 95 Theses in 1517 until the Diet of Augsburg in 1555.Overnight they became the manual of early Reformation history, and would remain so until well into the nineteenth and early twentieth century..." [He has been called] "the father of Reformation history" (Donald Kelly "Johann Sleidan and the Origins of History as a Profession" in the Journal of Modern History, 52, 577-598. pp. 577 and 597)

Best history of the German Reformation, carefully and objectively observed, until the 18th century (Religious and Political History of the Reign of Charles V).

In Sleidane's "Apologie" after the conclusion of the body of text, Sleidane (Philippson) writes: "...I wrote for the displeasure. or. favour of no man...and added moreever, that I was very desirous of the truthe and therein so affected, that if I knew any. thing to be written untruely, I would scrape. it. out. and. admonishe the reader...to give no credit to it..."

"[Sleidane] became a key player in the network of European intellectuals from both sides of the confessional divide who were working towards an alternative, moderate policy...his "Commentaries" reflected the more tolerant strands of thought that were emerging from [theologian] Martin Bucer's Strasbourg at the time..." (from "Johan Sleidan and the Protestant Vision of History" by Alexandra Kess. 2008, Ashgate; 2016, Routledge.

(Che Sara Sara, or Whatever Will Be, Will Be) "... Used to express a personal philosophy of fatalism and acceptance of the future. Most notably quoted by Christopher Marlowe in his 1604 play Doctor Faustus.

Day, ...has been called "the master printer of the English Reformation", and "the leading English printer in the latter half of the Sixteenth Century" ("Patents and Patronage: The Life and Career of John Day, Tudor Printer, by Elizabeth Evenden.). But the important fact to remember was that it was not only Day's superior skill as a master of the printing craft, but his natural gift for salesmanship, his willingness to take on particularly complex assignments, and then for attracting apprpropriate customers, that led to and defined his enormous success; he had the knack!