Council of Trent

Tridentini Concilii acta... accessit iam recens quinta sessio facta XIII Ianuarii 1547. Antwerp: Martin Nutius, 1547, woodcut printer's device on title-page, verso of title-page crudely repaired; Concilium delectorum Cardinalium & aliorum Prelatorum de emendanda ecclesia... Antwerp: Joannes Steelsius (Joannes Grapheus), 1538, some headlines cropped; 2 works in one volume, 8vo (144 x 93mm.), contemporary calf, neatly rebacked

Tridentini Concilii acta... accessit iam recens quinta sessio facta XIII Ianuarii 1547. Antwerp: Martin Nutius, 1547, 8vo (144 x 93mm.), woodcut printer's device on title-page, later calf, spine gilt in compartments, joints cracked, spine slightly chipped

J. Mendham, Sutton Coldfield, pencil inscription on inside front cover of both volumes; The Law Society, armorial bookplate in first volume

Belgica Typographica 4993 (a conflation of the two, with both [2]A-B⁸ and L⁸); 2nd volume: Adams C2786; Belgica Typographica 4992; Mendham R202, R180 & R203

The Council of Trent was first convened in 1545, and reached its sixth session on 3 March 1547, which debated the sacraments. The fifth session had debated justification and concluded that the Protestant concept of faith without good works was erroneous.

Although these two works have identical title-pages, the contents are not exactly the same. The first volume collates A-L⁸ with all the text in italics and the second collates A-I⁸ A-B⁸, with the last two quires in roman type; the fifth session of the Council has been reprinted for the second volume, though the first volume also contains the proceedings for the sixth session (not mentioned on the title-page). Although the collation of the first volume seems consistent, the proceedings for the fifth session (quire K) are incomplete and finish mid-word at the ninth section of the Canones, which continue to 33 sections in the other volume. Adams (C2785) records another variant of this 1547 Nutius edition, with 82 leaves.

The additional work bound with the first volume contains the findings of the Consilium de emendanda ecclesia, a committee set up by Pope Paul III to investigate financial abuses within the Church. The findings were not published officially but had a wide unofficial circulation.