RESERVED

Unrecorded Dutch anti-Catholic treatise, with prominent Utrecht provenance

François [de la Salle] Monginot (1569-1637); Daniel Costerus (1620(?)-1646) [translator].

Ontbindinge der twijffelingen ofte corte en clare verhandelinge van de voornaemste verschillen tusschen de Gereformeerde ende de Roomsche Kercke […].

Utrecht, Amelis Janssz van Paddenburgh, 1631.

8°. [34], 83, [3] pp. A-G8, H4.

Contemporary vellum.

Rare (not in STCN) first and only Dutch edition of a plea to Catholics to convert as Protestants. First published in French in La Rochelle, 1617 as Résolution des doutes, ou Sommaire décision des controverses entre l'Église réformée et l'Église romaine, in which Monginot explains why he converted from the Catholic to the Protestant faith.
This translation was dedicated to the magistrates of Utrecht and approved by the Dutch Synod. Translator Daniël Costerus, a preacher in Houten near Utrecht, added a 14-page preface and a 3-page prayer at the end. The only STCN record of him as author is a similar translation of a French protestant conversion plea: Schilt des geloofs, ofte Verdedinge vande geloofs-belydenisse der gereformeerde kercken in Vranckrijck, tegens de tegenvverpingen vanden heer Aernout (Utrecht, 1645). Second edition Delft 1670. CERL records Costerus as born in 1620 but that seems unlikely due to the date of the present publication (1631). The first owner of this copy was a prominent Utrecht woman.
The author's name Monginot is a pseudonym used by Françoise de la Salle, who at the time was physician to the King of France. In this book he invites Catholics to follow the his example and convert, but he applies an odd medical approach to his persuasion, making use of medical terminology: “Those who have been cured of a dangerous illness ought not to conceal from friends suffering from the same illness the remedies which they used”. 
Later also published in English as The trve Protestant sovldier fighting valiantly under truths banner, and by the glorious light of Gods word overthrowing the strongest bulwarkes, and subtle stratagems of the Church of Rome (London, 1642), translated by Hamnet Warde.

Provenance: contemporary inscription in ink on free endpaper by “Susanna vander Muelen” (1629-1648), member of an Utrecht patrician family, married to nobleman Albert Schach von Wittenau (1619-1692).

Condition: binding slightly stained. Front endpapers partially detached. Contents stained, slightly worming in lower margins not affecting text. Otherwise in good condition.

Literature:

M. Dupont, Dictionnaire historique des médecins dans et hors de la médecine, Larousse, 1999.

Katsumi Fukasawa, Benjamin J. Kaplan, Pierre-Yves Beaurepaire Religious Interactions in Europe and the Mediterranean World

Jan van Niwael, Portrait of Susanna vander Muelen, 1645. RKD 125616.

Jan van Niwael, Portrait of Susanna vander Muelen, 1645. RKD 125616.