Obras Espirituales Del V P Juan Eusebio Nieremberg, de la Compania de Jesus. Primera y Segunda Parte

[iv]+368 pages with half title. Small quarto (8" x 5 3/4") bound in contemporary vellum. (Palau 190923, Sommervogel V,1743) First printed in 1649.

This work which first appeared in 1649, was considered by E Allison Peers to be "one of the great religious books of its century" (Studies of the Spanish mystics). Menendez y Pelay described Nieremberg's style as "spontaneous, lively, erudite and elegant"

Nieremberg was born in Madrid to German parents. He studied the classics at the Royal Court, science at Alcalá and canon law at Salamanca. He joined the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1614, much against the wishes of his father who finally obliged him to leave the novitiate of Villagarcía. He remained firm in his resolution and was permitted to return to Madrid to finish his probation.

He was highly esteemed in devout circles as the author of De la afición y amor de Jesus (1630), and De la afición y amor de María (1630), both of which were translated into Arabic, Dutch, French, German, Italian and Latin. These works, together with the Prodigios del amor divino (1641), are now forgotten, but Nieremberg's version (1656) of the Imitation is still a favorite, and his eloquent treatise, De la hermosura de Dios y su amabilidad (1649), is the last classical manifestation of mysticism in Spanish literature.

Condition: Occasional spotting and foxing, ownership signature on half-title and title, marginal tear to front end paper, old institution stamp to tiel else very good.