[Council of Pisa] [Religion] [Catholic Church] Histoire du Concile de Pise: et de ce qui s'est passé de plus mémorable depuis ce Concile jusqu'au Concile de Constance. Enrichie de portraits

Amsterdam: chez Pierre Humbert, 1724. First Edition. Full French calf. Fine. First Illustrated Edition, complete in two volumes bound in one, of this history of the Council of Pisa. 4to: liii,366; 327,[31]pp, with 16 full-page copper-engraved plates (portrait of the author by J. Houbraken after A. Pesne, one of the Prussian queen, one of papal medals, and 13 of the Council's participants) and two title-page vignettes. Separate title-pages in red and black, with superbly engraved vignette of the city of Pisa. Printed marginalia, bibliographical references, and index. Also includes "Declaration de Charles VI," declaring the Duke of Burgundy an enemy of the state. Contemporary full French calf, spine in seven compartments, very richly gilt, divided by raised bands; red morocco lettering piece gilt, edges speckled red. Armorial engraved bookplate of John Orlebar of the Middle Temple (1697-1765) to verso of title-page. (Orlebar was member of parliament, from the constituency of Bedford, from 1727-1734.) A superlative wide-margined copy, remarkably clean and fresh inside and out, with dark, rich impressions of the plates. Gibson's Library, p. 177. Brunet III 976 (first edition). Graesse IV 161. . The Council of Pisa "convened in 1409 with the intention of ending the Western (or Great) Schism, during which rival popes, each with his own Curia (bureaucracy), were set up in Rome and Avignon. . . . [The Council] deposed the two existing pontiffs, who refused to cooperate, and elected a third, Alexander V. Western Christendom was therefore divided into three parties until the Council of Constance (1414-18), which forced the three contending popes to resign and elected Oddone Colonna, a Pisan cardinal, as Pope Martin V." (Britannica) N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).