Confessio fidei 1593/4 in an authentic velvet binding

Confessio fidei. Thet är: Then christeliga troos bekännelse […] under saligh konung Jahans regering, i Upsala almänne prestemöte på nytt bekräftigat.

Stockholm, Andrea Gutterwitz, 1593-4. 4to. (19,2 x 15,2 cms.) [85] leaves (of 86, without blank leaf P6). Title printed in red & black, woodcut on final page.

Contemporary binding, dark red velvet, edges gilt (gauffered), silk ties partly preserved. Restored, endleaves renewed, some marginal dampstaining. In a later solander box with morocco spine and gilt monogram of Swedish collector Gustaf Bernström (1877-1966). Some 20 printed fragments of Missale upsalense, Basel 1513, were removed fron the covers when the book was restored in 1936; these leaves are preserved in an envelope in the box. With Bernström’s catalogue card.

Collijn, 3, pp. 169-73. Variant 1.

Extremely few authentic Swedish velvet bindings of the 1500s have been preserved. The book is the official confession of faith of the Swedish Lutheran church, which had been definately established by the Uppsala Synod of 1593. Sweden had gone through its Protestant Reformation in the 1520s, but the official confession of faith was not declared until 1593. The synod was summoned by Duke Charles, heir to the Swedish throne. Four bishops and over 300 priests were also present. The three creeds - the Apostles’, the Nicene, and the Athanasian - were officially recognized, and the unaltered Lutheran Augsburg Confession (1530) was adopted. (At the same time the Catholic-inclined liturgy of King John III of Sweden (1537-1592) was also rejected; a copy of this very rare book, ”The Red Book”, is also being offered at the present sale.)

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