Malta Order. Volume che contiene gli Statuti della sacra religione Gerosolimitana & Compendio alfabetico de Statuti [..]

MALTA ORDER. Volume che contiene gli Statuti della sacra religione Gerosolimitana…

Borgo Novo, Antonio Scionico Stampatore Camerale, 1719

Two works in a folio volume. 295x200 mm. Late 18th-century binding in mottled calf binding, spines with gilt decorations in compartments with white leather labels with gilt titles, endpapers in comb-marbled blue paper, red sprinkled edges. 10 unnumbered pages (Illustrated engraved title page dated MDCCXVIII, printed title page, separate plate with a copper-engraved portrait of the dedicatee, dedication to Grand Master Ramon Perellós signed “Il Baglivo Fr. Gio: Battista Spinola,” printer’s notice), 9, 3 blank pages, 11–16, 1–308 (Statutes); Pages [2, illustrated engraved title page], 210 (Ordinationi); Pages 12, including title page (Urbani … VIII. Caeremoniale); Pages 32, including title page (Ceremoniale Urbano VIII); Pages [2, title page], 116 (Privilegi). 

The title continues with: le Ordinazioni dell'vltimo Capitolo generale ...; il Nuovo Cerimoniale prescritto dalla Santità di N. Sig. papa Vrbano VIII sopra l'Elezione de' Gran Maestri; Il Modo, o sia Instruzione di far i Processi …; L’Ordine, che si tiene nel da l’Abito …; E per vltimo i Privilegi concessi da' Sommi Pontefici alla Religione, e suoi Dependenti.

Heraldic ex libris of Ignaz Rinck von Baldenstein pasted to the inside front cover; blue-ink stamp of the Rinck von Baldenstein House Archive on the inside cover; paper label at the bottom of the top cover.

Numerous marginal notes in Italian, in clear cursive handwriting, in sepia ink. Restoration to the title page; slight signs of wear to the binding; in good condition internally; a fine copy with wide margins.

Bound with:

CARAVITA, Giovanni Maria. Alphabetical Compendium of the Statutes of the Sacred Order of Jerusalem for Easy Reference

Borgo Novo, Antonio Scionico, Court Printer, 1718

Pages [2], engraved illustrated title page, 120, [4, index].

Bound with:

5 manuscripts.

Second half of the 18th century

- 4 blank leaves.

- Preminenza delle Lingue, [9] leaves, 1 blank page. Text in Italian. 

- Decreti del Venerando Consiglio, [25] leaves. Text in Italian.

- 22 blank leaves.

- Forma juramenti professi[o]nis fidei ex bulla Pii iv …, [5] pages. Text in Latin.

- Professione della Fede … Sommo Pontefice Pio iv …, [5] pages. Text in Italian.

- 1 loose sheet with text in German, second half of the 18th century

Rare First Edition. The work contains the newly revised statutes of the Order of St. John of Malta, dating from the time when Fra Raimondo de Perellos of Aragon served as Grand Master of the Order from 1697 to 1720. 

A complete copy featuring the engraved portrait of the dedicatee, Grand Master Perellos, which is often missing. The volume is particularly interesting for the numerous handwritten annotations in the margins, written by a scholar of the time who was certainly a member of the Order: the notes do not merely comment on the text but supplement it by adding a wealth of information and details. On page 9 of the Chronology of the Grand Masters, a handwritten addition continues beyond Brother Raimondo de Perellos, G.M. LXIII, elected in 1697, and extends all the way to Emmanuele de Rohan, G.M. LXIX, elected on November 12, 1778. (The printed list does not include Raymond du Puy de Provence, 1120 - 1160, who instead appears as the second Grand Master in official documents of the Order of Malta).

This splendid work contains an important collection of texts, all dated 1718: 1) Statuti della Sac. Religione di S. Gio Gerosolimitano; 2) Ordinationi del Capitolo Generale celebrato nell'anno MDDDCXXXI de fu Em.mo e Rev. Gran Maestro Fra Antonio de Paola con un indice volgare;3). S.D.N.D. Urbani Divina Provientia Papae VIII Ceremoniale super Electione Magni Magistri Hospitalis S. Ioannis Hierosolymitani; 4). Privilegi della sacra religione di San Giovanni Gerosolimitano con un Indice volgare.

At the expense of Friar Giovanni Battista Spinola, Bailiff of the Order of Malta, the work—dedicated to Grand Master Perellos—was printed at the Spinola Palace in Borgo Nuovo. After commanding the galleys, G.B. Spinola became admiral of the fleet and was later appointed ambassador of the Order. In 1733, he was assigned the Rocchette/Roccaforte palace near Genoa. 

Next is the “Compendio alfabetico de' Statuti della sacra religione Gerosolimitana per facilia' alla ricognitione de medemi del fu Venerando Gran Prior di Lombardia Garavita,” with its own engraved title page.

Giovanni Maria Caravita, of Naples, Prior of Lombardy from 1692 to 1699, wrote seminal works on the Order, particularly regarding its economic and administrative aspects, some of which were never published. 

The final section of the volume contains five manuscripts in Italian and Latin. 

Following the second Turkish siege, the Order was forced to leave Rhodes in 1522, and thereafter was granted the islands of Malta and Gozo in 1530 by Emperor Charles V; from that moment on, it changed its name to the “Order of Malta.”

Cfr. Fine Bookbindings from the National Libr. of Malta, p. 88 (1999); Fumagalli, p. 48; Hellwald, p. 219; Library of the Order of Malta (here, as usual, the portrait is missing).

Prestigious provenance: this volume belonged to the German nobleman Ignaz Rinck von Baldenstein, whose heraldic ex libris - pasted to the inside cover - features his family coat of arms quartered with the Cross of the Knights Hospitaller. Ignaz Balthasar Willibald Rinck von Baldenstein (1721-1807) was the last Grand Prior of the Grand Priory of Malta in Germany, elected on December 10, 1796, and the last prince of the Principality of Heitersheim.

Cfr. Fine Bookbindings from the National Libr. of Malta, p. 88 (1999); Fumagalli, p. 48; Hellwald, p. 219; Library of the Order of Malta (anche qui, come di consueto, manca il ritratto).

Per la provenienza: Cfr. Kindler von Knobloch, Julius; Badische Historische Kommission [Editor]: Oberbadisches Geschlechterbuch (Band 3): M - R (Heidelberg, 1919)". digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de. Retrieved 2020-02-05.