Curé

1676 · Best.-Nr. 4401855 — London: R. Royston 1676. Preliminaries thumbed a bit foxed and a few scattered stains; binding scuffed and worn at extremities with some loss of the headband rear board stained. Folio with a frontispiece and double page 'Tree of Faith' plate trimmed and mounted on plain paper several other cuts in the text title-page printed in black and red; contemporary English crimson calf gilt unlettered spine with ornately gilt-decorated panels between raised bands. An attractive folio in contemporary English red calf binding. The second of several editions of this history of the early church illustrated with remarkable cuts depicting the apostles persecuted in all manner of ways it includes crucifixion immolation and the dreaded 'cauldron of boyling oyl'. Each apostle is awarded a separate chapter and is depicted both beatified and under duress. William Cave 1637-1713 was a minister and scholar of Church history who took his Doctor of Divinity at Cambridge before serving as vicar of Islington and later in London. He was chaplain to Charles II and Canon of Windsor. Cave's primary area of expertise was the early history of the Church and following the structure of Eusebius of Caesarea he weaves the lives of the apostles into a close narrative that illuminates arcane early theology for his reader successfully making the early history of the Church accessible to a wider audience: "what is significant about Cave's writings is that they follow the tradition of Christian bio-bibliography that in late antiquity and into the medieval period had such a long and rich history and which was revived in the Reformation. Cave's works provide valuable evidence for the interest in patristic scholarship at the end of the seventeenth century." ODB. . Provenance: Early signature of Elizabeth Wyndham; from the library of Chillingham Castle Northumberland spruiked today as "Britain's most haunted historic castle" with old label to the front endpaper; ownership inscription on title of "Cam. Tankerville 1727" Chillingham was the family seat of the Earls of Tankerville; from 1674 to 1931 the seven successive earls were all named Charles Bennet. R. Royston unknown