157. Wendelinus, Marcus Fridericus: ~nak a’ keresztyen isteni tudomanyrol...

... irott ket könyvei. Mellyek mostan... Magyar nyelvre fordittattanak Apafi Mihaly... által.
Kolosváratt, 1674. Veresegyházi Szentyel Mihaly által. (24)+10012 [recte 1012]+(20)p.
Prince Mihály Apafi I, described as a reader and book lover, is associated with several translations of mainly devotional works and one independent work. Most of his writings have survived only in manuscript form. The translation was based on the 1639 Amsterdam edition and is significant in that it attempted to translate theological and logical terms, thereby initiating the development of Hungarian scientific terminology.
Péter Bod writes about Mihály Apafi: "This prince and scholar loved science very much; he himself practised the sciences and translated Vendelinus Friderik Márk's two books on divine science into Hungarian, which he had printed very beautifully... The book, as is well known, is very beautiful: it encompasses the branches of our faith and protects us from the arguments of our opponents..." What the author of Magyar Athenas does not mention is that Apafi also wrote a preface to his translation, enriched with autobiographical elements. Our particularly beautiful copy, whose pages are almost "fresh off the press", appeared at the 40th auction of the ÁKV (Állami Könyvterjesztő Vállalat) in 1973.
Contemporary leather.
Poss.: According to the entry on the flyleaf dated 25 November 1876 (Hungarian National Archives), the volume comes from the library of Mihály Apafi.
RMNy 3958.; RMK I 1161.
 
Starting price: 400 000,-