Historia reformationis Polonicae, in qua tum reformatorum, tum antitrinitariorum origo & progressus in Polonia & finitimis provinciis narrantur. [Bound with] Bibliotheca anti-trinitariorum, sive catalogus scriptorium, & succincta narration de vita eorum auctorum…Christophori Chr. Sandii. de LUBIENICZKI, Stanislas - 1685

Freistadt [Amsterdam]: Johann Aconius [Henricus Wetstein], 1685. First Edition. . Hardcover. See Description. First Edition. Small 8vo. pp. [16], 304. This copy lacks the 2 leaf "Addenda & Emendata (apparently common according to the pagination recorded for many copies). S. Lubieniczki (1623-1675) was a Polish Socinian/Unitarian pastor and scholar. His "Historia" is an account of the Polish Reformation, especially the Polish Socinians or Minor Reformed Church (Polish Brethren) from it’s origins in the 16th century up till the expulsion of the Brethren from Rakow (1638). Material is also included about events in outlying areas such as Prussia, Lithuania, Transylvania and the Ukraine. Lubieniczki died leaving his work incomplete. The last two chapters are written by a different author. In a review of the 1995 English translation Paul W. Knoll says that this work is "a comprehensive treatment of an extraordinarily complex movement. It is unique in Polish historiography and in some ways unmatched by any other confessional history." [See Sixteenth Cent. Journ. XXVIII/2 (1997) p. 568]. [VD17 - 23: 237280Q; Graesse IV, p. 270; Bibliographia Sociniana 2069]. This copy is bound with Christoph Sandius’s "Bibliotheca anti-trinitariorum" (1684). pp. [16], 296. Contents include an Antitrinitarian bibliography and a collection of important historical documents. [VD17 - 23: 237261K; Graesse VI, p. 263; Bibliographia Sociniana 3116]. Both books were published or edited by Benedykt Wiszowaty (1650-1704), the great grand son of Faustus Socinus. The printer is Henricus Wetstein of Amsterdam who worked under the false imprint: "Freistadii apud Johannem Aconium." [See Weller, Druckorte I, pp. 181-182]. The two works are bound in sturdy 19th century paste paper boards showing rubbing and wear. The front blank fly-leaf is carefully repaired along the bottom edge. Interior pages contain scattered spotting, foxing and age-toning – generally mild. The book was released from the Andover-Newton Theological Institution and a book plate is pasted to the inside front cover. The title page verso to the "Historia" displays a light library stamp; the first leaf in the chapter index contains a small tear at the beginning of a couple lines of text (sealed and practically unnoticeable). Sandius’ "Bibliotheca" is marked by occasional marginalia and periodic thin underlings in an early hand.