STATUTA HOSPITALIS HIERUSALEM. Ed. by Giovanni Battista Rondinelli.

Fine etched title with the figures of Faith, Charity, and Hope, 1 plate showing the investiture of Hughes de Loubens-Verdale as cardinal, engraved divisional title, 12 plates with 48 portrait medallions engraved by Philippe Thomassin, 1 plate (portraits of the last 3 Grand Masters) signed by Gijsbert van Veen, 1 plate (portrait of Loubens-Verdale, unsigned); 21 large etchings in a brownish tint incl. 1 map of Malta and 1 plan of Valletta, all surrounded by fine woodcut borders (4 variants). 3 leaves, 203 (1) pp., 4 unn. pp., (1) blank leaf, 8 leaves index (title to index within wide woodcut border, with red cardinal's hat over the coat of arms of Loubens-Verdale). Small folio. Old stiff boards (using a leaf of a Hebraic ms.). (Rome, Typografia del Popolo Romano, 1588). First edition of this new revision of the statutes of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, founded in 1099. This is one of the finest illustrated books of the Roman mannerism. Its woodcut material is borrowed from the Blado edition of 1556. The splendid work contains portraits of 52 dignitaries, from the Blessed Gérald, and Raimond du Puy, who set down the rules in 1137, to Grand Master Hugues de Loubens-Verdale. They are the work of Philippe Thomassin (1562-1622) from Troyes, one of the best engravers of his time, teacher of Jacques Callot and Nicolas Cochin. The other illustrations show, with great accuracy of costumes, scenes representing the order's central tenets, ideological and charitable aims. Many of the plates show the Grand-Master Hugues de Loubens-Verdale and in two of these he is seen being made a Cardinal by Sictus V, an event which ocurred in 1587. Of great importance are the maps of Malta and Valetta, the city which had been built by the Grand-Master Jean Parisot de la Vallette (1494-1568) following the unsuccessful siege of the Turks in 1565; the Order had been invested with the island in 1530 by Emperor Charles V. Thereafter the Catholic branch changed the name into "Order of Malta". The fine, unsigned title-page with its elongated figures is similar to the work of Jacques Bellange. This copy includes 8ff. "Index materium" by Tolomeo Veltroni, from which the date is taken. - Light waterstain in lower edge, first 2 leaves carefully restored (no loss), altogether a good copy. - Mortimer (Italian) 273 (in detail, with illus.: "not all copies contain the index"); STC (Italian) 358; Lipperheide Of 3; Adams J-151, J-152, J-284; Sotheby's, Schäfer Coll. I (Italian Books) 104; Hellwald, p. 216. ILLUSTRATED BOOKS (BEFORE 1900) ; ORDER OF ST. JOHN ; RELIGION / THEOLOGY ; ORDER OF MALTA ; HISTORY (KULTURGESCHICHTE) ;