Acta Pacificationis quae coram sac. caesareae maiestatis commissariis, inter Seren, Regis Hispaniarum & Principis Matthiae Archduchis Austriae ...

Antverpiae [Antwerp]: Ex officina Christophori Plantini Architypographi Regii, 1580 An extremely scarce original copy in soft cover vellum binding, printed and published by Christopher Plantin and with his printer's device on the title page. This work is a contemporary account of events in the Netherlands during the period of armed rebellion against the rule of Philip II of Spain and its subsequent repression. The activities of Mathias (Holy Roman Emperor), who was invited to be Governor of the Netherlands in 1577, in promoting a Catholic revival have been said to be contributory to the Thirty Years War. The work was edited by Aggaeus Van Albada, an extremely able who was principal speaker for the Netherlands at the peace talks that followed the rebellion. Christopher Plantin, whose major printing house was in Antwerp, suffered personally in the conflict - only saving his business from destruction by paying ransoms to the Spanish soldiers. This copy is in a full vellum soft binding. The boards appear contemporary with the remains of ties at the back. The spine is newer and possibly applied with glue - the book is quite tight to open, particularly at the beginning. The binding is a little grubby but sound. Newer blanks have been added at the beginning and end, and are a little dog-eared. Contents: title page with printer's device and a couple of ink letters; summa privilegii 1p; text with decorative initial capitals pp 1-338; ad lectorum 339-340; quotation 1p; printer's note 1p; blank; typographus lectori with superscriptio pp 345-351. Given the age of this book, the contents are in good clean condition. There is a light stain in the bottom margin that extends upwards into the text which is persistent throughout, but which worsens at the end of the book. Pages are lightly toned. A very small piece of the paper surface from a marginal note has detached at p328 and been deposited on p329 but the original text is still visible.