Imitatio Christi. [The Imitation of Christ].

à KEMPIS, Thomas.

Item Number: 119380

Strasbourg: Johannes Gerson, 1489.

First illustrated Latin edition of the most influential devotional work of the later Middle Ages. Chancery octavo, bound in three quarters calf over marbled boards with gilt titles and tooling to the spine, woodcut engraving of Christ with a suppliant at this feet, decorated illuminated initials. In near fine condition with light toning to the text. An exceptional example of this rarity.

The Imitation is perhaps the most widely read Christian devotional work next to the Bible, and is regarded as a devotional and religious classic. Its popularity was immediate, and it was printed 745 times before 1650. Apart from the Bible, no book was translated into more languages than the Imitation of Christ in the later Middle Ages, with roughly thirteen translations and three paraphrases in English being published between 1500 and 1700. The text is divided into four books, which provide detailed spiritual instructions: "Helpful Counsels of the Spiritual Life", "Directives for the Interior Life", "On Interior Consolation" and "On the Blessed Sacrament". "The most widely read devotional manual apart from the Bible, perhaps even surpassing the influence of such books as Pilgrim's Progress and St. Augustine's Confessions... an expression of the German-Dutch mystical school of the fifteenth century, its message stressed the humble Christian virtues as they were preached in the Sermon on the Mount" (PMM 13. Sabin 3734).