C16th English commentary on Ruth by a Reformer, 1586

LAVATER, Ludwig. The Book of Ruth expounded in twenty eight Sermons.  London: Robert Walde-Grave, 1586

8vo (148 x 95 mm); collation: *-V8 X7. Woodcut capitals and chapter headers throughout, text in Italics and Roman type; ink inscription to bottom edge of title page ‘Charles Cording a 27’, small rubrics near title, bottom right corner repaired throughout the first signature, with loss to the woodcut border of title page and a few letters on dedication, small tear to corner of l.52 with loss of catchwords, repaired tear to l.53. Bookplate with ink inscription of S. V. Dashwood, and bookplate of The Battem Library to front flyleaf. Bound in contemporary calf, rebacked preserving original boards and spine, remains of gilt ornaments to board edges and spine, corners worn, damage to spine and joints cracking and scuffing to boards. A good copy.

Ludwig Lavater (1527-1586) was a Protestant theologian, influenced by his father-in-law, Heinrich Bullinger (1504-1575), a preeminent figure in the Swiss Reformation. He was ordained in 1549 and shortly thereafter became archdeacon at the Grossmünster in Zurich, a post he held for thirty-four years. Lavater’s most widely translated and published work, ‘De spectris’, published in 1469, was a treatise on demonology, exploring ghostly apparitions as divine or demonic phenomena rather than souls of the dead. A prolific writer, he also published numerous commentaries on the Scriptures, sermons, homiliaries and bibliographies. The present compilation of sermons studies the themes of loyalty, marriage and widowhood present in the Book of Ruth, from the Old Testament.

USTC 510578, ESTC S108368