Special Collections Books

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  On Christian Marriage

  Pius XI, Pope 1857-1939

  This book is a papal encyclical, written by Pius XI, which reaffirmed the Catholic prohibition on abortion, proscribed artificial birth control, and proclaimed the sanctity of marriage. The text is printed in Latin and English on alternate pages. The Latin title of the encyclical is Casti Connubii. The book is 12.25 inches in height.

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  An Address to the Roman Catholics of the United States of America

  John Carroll

  This book is a defense of certain doctrines of the Catholic Church. It was written by John Carroll, who would become the first bishop of the United States, in response to Charles Wharton’s Letter to the Roman Catholics of the City of Worcester [England] (1784). The book is 7.5 inches in height and is in the quarto format. A binder’s stamp indicates that this particular copy was later bound by the Collectors Book Club of London.

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  Imagines Præpositorum Generalium Societatis Jesu

  Niccolò Galeotti and Arnold van Westerhout

  This book is a collection of engraved portraits and biographical essays of the Jesuit Superior Generals. The collection includes biographical subjects from the establishment of the Jesuit order to the time of the book’s publication. It is a large, unpaginated, folio volume, about 16.25 inches tall. An English translation of the title is Images of the Superior Generals of the Society of Jesus.

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  Tractatus Sancti Bonaventure qui Vocatur Lignum Vite

  Saint Cardinal Bonaventure

  This item is a bound set of unpaginated, folio leaves taken from a longer work; it is only part of a book. The leaves are about 10.25 inches in height. The text by Bonaventure is a meditation on the life of Christ using an allegory of a tree and its fruits to denote various virtues. An English translation of this item’s title is “A Treatise of Saint Bonaventure which is Called the Tree of Life.” The title is usually spelled in Latin “Lignum Vitae.” These leaves are taken from the longer work Tractatus Sancti Bonauenture [Cologne, Germany: Bartholomaeus de Unkel, Johann Koelhoef, the Elder], 1484 -1485.