Simons

1663 · ref. QQ0082 — No publisher 1663. ~FULL TITLES: Roman-Catholick Doctrines No Novelties: Or An Answer to Dr. Pierce's Court-Sermon Mis-call'd The Primitive Rule of Reformation. By S. C. a Roman-Catholick / An Answer to Doctor Pierce's Sermon Preached before His Majesty at White-Hall Feb. 1. 1662. By J. S. ~Original speckled calf blind frames to boards. Raised bands to spine. Gilt decor to board edges. Splitting starting over rear hinges front hinge cracked but holding. Hinges becoming tender but strings holding. 8vo 11.4 x 17.1cm. All edges red. Inscription to fore-edges: 'Cressy a B Pierce 253'. Bookplates to inside front board: Arbury Library and P. R. Glazebrook legal scholar. Inscription to front flyleaf: 'December . 9 . 1663 / Co. Cs. Fd. '. Typographic head- and tail-pieces. Minor worm damage extending from inside front board through to p. 222 affecting bottom margin only: no impact on text. Moderate age-browning to early pages. Armorial bookplate of Sir Richard Newdigate dated 1709 Franks Collection 21722 to verso of title page. This is almost certainly Sir Richard Newdigate 3rd Baronet 1668-1727 who 'seems to have devoted his time to managing his estates at Arbury and Harefield'; over 40 books with a Newdigate bookplate are now in the Harry Ransom Research Center University of Texas including a Shakespeare First Folio Pearson Book Owners Online. Sir Richard's father the 2nd Bart was known for his 'vehement anti-Catholicism' Folger catalogue note to N49649; he and Sir Richard had an fiercely acrimonious relationship and it is perhaps revealing that the 3rd Bart's library included this volume of Catholic apologia. Published under the initials S. C. Serenus Cressy Benedictine controversialist and historian 1605-1674 and J. S. Joseph Simons the pseudonym of Emmanuel Lobb Jesuit playwright 1594-1671; the attribution to Lobb is made by Lobb's contemporary Thomas Blount Wing and Clancy although the work has sometimes been assigned to John Sergeant ODNB. The two works bound together here are both responses to Thomas Pierce's sermon 'The Primitive Rule of Reformation' the most significant of many sermons preached by Pierce during his tenure as chaplain-in-ordinary to the king. Pierce's sermon an attack on Catholicism 'ran through eight editions in 1663 alone and was translated into several foreign languages'; it precipitated several important responses by Catholic polemicists including this one by Cressy and ignited 'a long-running controversy' ODNB. Both Cressy and Lobb's responses here include dedications to the Queen Mother; Lobb's dedication includes an acknowledgement of 'the excellent Pen of S. C.' which had already defended 'the no less ancient then unchangeable truths of our Doctrines' A2v. The Cressy work is the 'O copy' identified by Clancy with Ch. 1 beginning 'I cannot forbid myself to wonder that a book so universally esteemed'. The Simons work is 3rd issue with 'Pierce's' and 'Feb. 1. 1662' on the title-page and no errata on page 121. Clancy 273; 603. ~Robust packaging. Overseas orders trackable on request. Used books are exempt from USA tariffs. Hardback. Hardback. Good/Fine. 7 322 6. 6 121pp. No publisher Hardcover