Moguntiacarum rerum ab initio usque ad . hodiernum Archiepiscopum, ac Electorem, Dominum D. Ioannem Schwichardum, libri quinque.

Title printed in red and black. With woodcut device on title, full-page heraldic woodcut on title verso, woodcut head-piece and large figured intital on leaf 2, and 7 engr. plates (one folding, with a view of Mainz). 8 unn. leaves, 980 pp., 7 unn. leaves. 4to. Contemp. richly blind-stamped pigskin over wooden boards, 1 clasp (second clasp broken), ms. title on spine. Exlibris Clemens Reitmayer, Brussels. Mainz, Balthasar Lipp, 1604. Important history of Mainz, including letters of Saint Boniface, by Nicolaus Serarius (1558-1609), Professor of Exegesis at Mainz university. A highly esteemed authority in his field, he was best known for his exegetical works and his polemical writings against Luther and some of his followers. The present work leads up to the time of Johann Schweikhard von Kronberg (1553-1626), Archbishop and Elector of Mainz, Arch-chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire, to whom the book is dedicated, with his fine coat of arms on title verso. Under his rule, there was an enormous increase of witch trials in Mainz. The plates show a map of the city of Mainz, signed "G.P.", and six local saints, the best-known of which is Saint Boniface (8th cent.), the city's first archbishop; part III is dedicated entirely to his life and times. - Slightly browned, some worm tracks, a few outer corners cut off (pp. 761-792), not affecting text, otherwise a good copy. - Graesse VI, 372 (gives Ingolstadt as printing place); VD 17 23:244278K; De Backer/Sommervogel VII, p. 1138, no. 20. RELIGION / THEOLOGY ; HISTORY (KULTURGESCHICHTE) ;