CORVINUS, Johannes Arnold

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Elegantly bound first edition of a legal university textbook published by the Elzevir press in the distinctive portable format. Johannes Arnold Corvinus (c.1582-1650) was a Dutch j urist, Arminian minister and practitioner in Amsterdam. A follower of Hugo Grotius, he authored several pamphlets and essays as well as a few influential textbooks on Roman law for higher education. Postumus Pacianus is named after the Italian Calvinist Giulio Pace (1550-1635), who taught law and philosophy successfully throughout Europe and published a long-lasting edition of Aristotle s Organon. Corvinus dedicated this work to the city council of Leiden and to any young student of law eager to learn more. This copy belonged to Etienne Baluze (1630 1718), a prominent French bibliophile, Latin philologist, Church historian and professor of canon law at the Coll ége Royal in Paris. Baluze is mostly famous for having served Jean-Baptiste Colbert as keeper of his legendary library. Baluze s vast personal collection of books and manuscripts, including a significant portion of Mazarin s papers, was sold at auction by Martin and Baudot in 1719. Later in the century, the book was acquired by Charles, 1st Baron Stuart of Rothesay (1779-1845). A major figure of British diplomacy during the Napoleonic wars and the Restoration, he was ambassador to Portugal, the Netherlands, Spain and, most importantly, to the France of Louis XVIII between 1815 and 1824. Probably during the latter period, Stuart commissioned this fine morocco binding to the Parisian family workshop Simier. Show more