153. Pázmány Péter: A setet haynal-csillag...

... utan budoso luteristak vezetője. Mely útba igazíttya a’ Vittebergai Academiának Fridericus Balduinus-által ki-bocsátot feleletit a’ Kalaúzra.
Bechben, 1627. Formica Mate. (2)+481+(5)p. The title page is in a decorative woodcut frame, with the IHS emblem on the back.
First edition. The Catholic response to criticism of Pázmány's most significant work, the Guide, which was formulated by Friedrich Balduin, a professor at Wittenberg, at the encouragement of Hungarian Lutherans in his book Phosporus veri catholicismi (1626). Since the Protestant critiques appeared more than ten years later – and in Latin, no less – they were unable to counterbalance the impact of the Guide, nor did they come close to matching its quality. Pázmány responded to the attack the following year, deliberately choosing to write in Hungarian. He wrote: "Although I know Latin, since I wrote the Guide in Hungarian for the Hungarians, I want to write its defence in Hungarian as well, for the spiritual remedy of my nation. I know that no one will object to this. For if others are free to respond to the Hungarian book in Deákul, no one can forbid me from writing in Hungarian in response to Deák's book." Sándor Sík writes aptly about the debating Pázmány (Pázmány - az ember és az író [Pázmány - the man and the writer], Budapest, 1939): "...he sees the weaknesses in his opponent's line of thought at first glance, always finding the necessary arguments, classifications, distinctions, refinements, and even - if his conscience allows it - cunning tricks at his fingertips, with which he can express his own ideas in the most favourable form, most clearly, and most persuasively, and to attack, destroy, or even twist his opponent's ideas in the most apt and sensitive way, leading them ad absurdum. Pázmány more or less confronts his opponents in this way. Even the best of them, such as Balduinus and Alvinczi, who are trained theologians and skilled dialecticians, appear clumsy, long-winded, and poor when they have to measure their well-proven weapons against him in other battles. Talented people stand here facing his genius.
Slightly worn, 18th-century half leather.
RMNy 1376.; RMK I 558.
 
Starting price: 800 000,-