59 - CALVIN, John. *Catechismus Ecclesiae Geneuensis*, that is, *Formula for Instructing Children in the Doctrine of Christ*.

CALVIN, John. *Catechismus Ecclesiae Geneuensis*, that is, *Formula for Instructing Children in the Doctrine of Christ*. A remarkable composite volume bound in full vellum from 1628, containing an edition of John Calvin’s Catechism printed during his lifetime in Geneva (1550), combined with two major works by Heinrich Bullinger —the *Confessio* and *Expositio Simplex* (1608), fully annotated by the theologian Ludwig Lucius, and the *Summa Christenlicher Religion* (1576). 3 titles in 1 sturdy in-12 volume, full vellum with overcover, straight spine, double blind-stamped fillet framing the covers, the upper cover titled “R.W.V 1628,” blue edges. Fabric clasps missing, edges slightly faded, some foxing. Pages of the Confessio slightly browned. 16 blank bookbinder’s leaves precede the Calvin volume. An exceptional composite collection containing: - CALVIN, John. *Catechismus Ecclesiae Geneuensis, hoc est, Formula erudiendi pueros in doctrina Christi*.
 Geneva, Apud Ioannem Crispinum (Jean Crespin) Conradi Badii opera, 1550. 132 pp. An extremely rare Genevan printing of the official Latin version of the Catechism. These editions, printed during Calvin’s lifetime (1509–1564) by Crespin, are virtually “incunabula” of the Reformation. This religious instruction manual is written in a very simple question-and-answer format between a Minister (the Protestant pastor) and a Child and is divided into four parts: Faith (the Creed), the Law (the Ten Commandments), Prayer (the Lord’s Prayer), and the Sacraments (Baptism and the Lord’s Supper). Bound together with two editions by Heinrich BULLINGER (1504–1575), one of the founding fathers of the Protestant Reformation in Switzerland. - Confessio & Expositio Simplex Orthodoxae Fidei et dogmatum Catholicorum sincerae religionis Christianae…
 Zurich, In officina Wolphiana (Johannes Wolf), 1608. 8 unnumbered folios and 72 pages. Latin edition of the Second Helvetic Confession, one of the most important confessional texts of Reformed Protestantism, which seals the definitive doctrinal unity between the theological schools of Zurich (Zwinglians) and Geneva (Calvinists). A valuable, extensively annotated copy by the Calvinist theologian and professor of logic at the Academy of Basel, Ludwig Lucius (1577–1642), who notes in the colophon that he copied word for word the annotations from the study copy of Metrophanes Kritopoulos (1589–1639), the future Patriarch of Alexandria, who was then studying in Europe, particularly in Basel. The annotations bear the initials “M. C.” for Metrophanes Kritopoulos. - Summa Christenlicher Religion... Zurich, Christoph Froschauer, 1576. 8 unnumbered folios and 184 pages. A beautiful print in Gothic type. This is a popular and instructional manual written in vernacular German. Handwritten bookplate on the title page: “Johann Herr von Escher Manu ppria”; the Escher family was one of the oldest and most influential patrician and bourgeois dynasties in the city of Zurich. The binding is very well preserved and dated 1628. The gilt initials “R.W.V.” on the upper cover belong to Reinhard Wasserhun (1586–1652), whose handwritten bookplate adorns the first leaf of the binding. Reinhard Wasserhun (1586–1652), a bourgeois and scholar, studied at the University of Basel during the time when Ludwig Lucius was teaching there. He was the principal commissioner of this exceptional copy.