Catholic Church.- Rituum ecclesiasticorum siue sacrarum cerimoniarum S.S. Romanae Ecclesiae, libri tres, non ante in Germania impressi, printer's woodcut device to title, early ink ownership inscriptions to title and front endpaper (verso) head, woodcut initials, contemporary vellum, blue-stained edges, faded, [VD16 R 2585], 8vo, Cologne, Arnold Birckmann, 1557.

⁂ First German edition, printed in the Catholic stronghold of Cologne, of this ceremonial on the inner workings of the Papacy, including election of the Pope, crowning of an emperor, canonisation of saints, the Sistine Chapel and others. Never originally intended for publication when composed in 1488, much of its content still highly secret, the work's first publication 1516 caused outrage in some quarters and attempted suppression but it came to be a seminal text with many subsequent editions.