Paradisus Animae Christianae, Lectissimis Ombigenae Pietatis Deliciis Amoenus [Paradise of the Christian Soul], with Manual Pietas, in quo Officium B. Mariae Virginis

Apud Tobiam Goebhardt, 1763-01-01. Leather Bound. Good. In Latin. 1763 Apud Tobiam Goebhardt (Bamberg, Germany), 4 1/2 x 6 7/8 inches tall full leather bound, four raised bands and titled paper label to spine, all page edges red, 384, [4], 147 pp. Slight soiling and moderate rubbing and edgewear to covers. Leather patch to lower spine. Half-inch wormhole to front cover, paper spine title label is cracking and about a third lacking. Ancient library shelving label to lower spine. Moderate soiling and foxing to front and rear prelims. German library shelving sticker to front pastedown. Prior owner inscription to blank front free-endpaper. Spot of worming to the lower part of the rear pastedown, free-endpaper and last five pages of text. Otherwise, a very good copy - clean, bright and unmarked - of this rare 18th century edit and imprint of a much-beloved 17th century Catholic prayer book. ~UUU~ [2.0P] A rare 1763 Bamberg, Germany edit of this beloved compilation of seventeenth century devotional prayers by Jacob Merlo Horstius, the parish priest of Cologne, Germany. Rare; OCLC (No. 718648605) locates only two copies of this edition (first published in 1644) at institutions worldwide, both in Swiss collections. Paradisus Animae Christianae (Paradise of the Christian Soul) was an extremely popular collection of Catholic prayers, devotions and litanies - both in its original Latin and in translation - which has been rediscovered in the 21st century by more traditional Roman Catholics and Protestants. Scarce in this imprint. This edition was bound with the 1649 Manuale Pietatis (Manual of Piety) by Horstius. Jacob Merlo Horstius (1597-1644), born in Horst, Holland (from whence he derives his name), was a prominent doctor of theology known as an effective preacher at the Lyskirchen in Cologne, where he served as pastor. The Paradisus Animae, which has gone through many editions in the original Latin since its 1644 first edition, was long a favorite prayer book among Catholics. In addition to his influential edit, with commentary, of the works of Thomas a Kempis (author of 'Imitation of Christ'), Horstius authored and edited numerous books, including a highly respected commentary of Estius on the Pauline Letters and the works of St. Bernard.