Ludi Theatrales Sacri: Sive Opera Comica Posthuma

Jakob Bidermann; Wagner, Johann

Joannis Wagneri; typ. Joannis Wilhelmi Schell, [Munchen] Monachii, 1666

[Theater of the Counter Reformation: First Collected Edition of Bidermann's plays] 2 parts, bound as one.  Bound in contemporary calf. Blind stamped, with (now indeterminable) bishop's arms on front medallion. Gilt edges. [32], 432 (of 434); 414, [1] pages. (Lacking leaf Y5, supplied in facsimile). Bidermann was a Jesuit theologian and author.  He is best known for his tragic comedies that attempted to promote the ideas of the counter reformation. Includes his best known work, Cenodoxus, a preliminary to Goethe's Faust.  Additional contents: Belisarius, Cosmarchia, Macarius Romanus, Philemon Martyr, Jacosus Ururarius, Joannes Calybita, Josaphatus Rex, Stertinius. Bidermann later served in Rome as leader of the Revisors General of the Jesuits, where he censored books for their content.  He was responsible for banning some of Galileo's works. Refs:  Faber Du Faur 948; DeBacker & Sommervogel I, 1455.  Bibliotheque de la compagnie de Jesus, I. 1868. pp. 1443-1444.