[Augsburg Confession] Confessio fidei, Wittenberg, 1531, from the library of a leader of the Protestant Reformation, Lazarus Spengler

Augsburg Confession. Confessio fidei exhibita inuictiss. Imp. Carolo v. Caesari aug. in comiciis Augustae. anno M.D.XXX. Addita est Apologia Co[n]feßionis. Wittenberg: (Georg Rhau, 1531)

The famous ConfessioAugustana, the creed of the reformed Church, mainly drafted by Philip Melanchthon (with Martin Luther and Justus Jonas), presented to the Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Augsburg, on 25 June 1530, and one of the most influential documents to come out of the Reformation. The Confessio presents 28 articles of faith, 21 of which describe the principles of the reformers, or Lutherans, and seven of which correct perceived abuses of the Roman Catholic church. Appended to the Confession is Melanchthon’s Apologia, written in response to the Confutatio Augustana, which was prepared at the Emperor’s direction by a group of Roman theologians led by Johann Eck.

This is the fourth authorized edition of the Lutheran confession of faith, containing the Latin text only; the first three, published the same year by Rhau, contained both Latin and German texts. These were preceded by several unauthorized editions in 1530.

The first owner of this copy was Lazarus Spengler (1479–1534), leader of the Ratskanzlei in Nuremberg. A friend and promoter of Luther, Spengler was one of the representatives to the 1521 Diet of Worms, and was condemned along with Luther in the Bull of Excommunication (Decet Romanum Pontificem) issued by Pope Leo X. He wrote pamphlets on behalf of the Reformation and in defense of Luther and was a participant in the negotiations at the Diet of Augsburg, upholding strict Lutheranism. In his 1529 testament, Spengler bequeathed his library to Georg Hoppel (d. 12 December 1533), Kanzleischreiber in Nuremberg, who in his own 1533 testament bequeathed the library to Paul Spengler. Details of the eventual dispersal of the library have not been discovered.

Spengler’s large woodcut exlibris (134 x 189 mm) is preserved on the front pastedown, displaying his arms on the escutcheon (a half lily and rose), with his motto (Ultimus ad mortem post omnia fata recursus, from the Alexandreis by Walter of Châtillon) on a tablet below. Originally attributed to Spengler’s good friend, Albrecht Dürer, the woodcut has since been assigned to Sebald Beham, Erhard Schön, and most recently to Hans Springinklee (ca. 1495–after 1522), Dürer’s closest assistant and a resident in his house.

8vo (150 x 96 mm). Italic & roman types, 25 lines + headline. collation: a–d⁸ e⁴ f–n⁸ A–P⁸ Q⁴: 224 leaves (e4, Q4 blank). Woodcut architectonic title border, woodcut border to Apologia section-title, and woodcut initials all beautifully colored by a contemporary hand and heightened in gold.

binding: Contemporary German (Nuremberg?) brown calf (157 x 105 mm), tooled in gold in a Venetian style, covers with 4 blind fillets around sides, open frame formed by 2 gilt fillets containing gilt rosette in corners, in central panel small gilt leaf in corners and large lozenge shaped arabesque, the central panel polished to a lighter tone than the rest of the binding, imitating the look of an inlay, 2 brass clasps, spine with 3 bands, plain edges, 2-line title in ink running down top-edge. (A couple of small scrapes and repairs, tiny chip at front joint.)

provenance: Lazarus Spengler (handcolored armorial exlibris, occasional annotation in red ink, manicule on g3v), by bequest to — Georg Hoppel, by bequest to — Paul Spengler. acquisition: Purchased from Librairie Thomas-Scheler, Paris, 1995.

references: VD16 C 4709 / VD16 M 2505; Neuser 11; for Spengler’s exlibris, see: O’Dell, Deutsche und österreichische Exlibris 1500–1599 im Britischen Museum no. 391a; Beaujean, The New Hollstein … Volume 76: Hans Hans Springinklee, Part 2 no. 313 (“tentative attribution”).