Sibylla Trygandriana seu de virginitate, virginum statu & iure tractatus novus & iucundus (with:) Linea amoris, sive commentarius.... Frankfurt, M. Becker for J. Fischer,

2 parts in one vol. 12mo (140 x 75mm). 281pp. [3]ff.; 148pp. [4]ff. Early 19th-century, English straight-grained red morocco, gilt fillet border, gilt ornament at each corner, spine gilt, g.e. (joints cracked).

Frankfurt: Matthias Becker for Jacob Fischer, 

First edition of this often reprinted work on female virginity by German lawyer Heinrich Kornmann (d.1627). Though principally based on classical and theological sources such as Pliny, Isidore of Seville and Bartholomaeus Anglicus, it is rife with magic, superstition and astrology; Kornmann notes, for example, that a scorpion bite will injure a virgin far more than other women, and that a tree will suffer from a virgin plucking its first fruit. The second work - frequently found bound with the first - examines sexual conduct and adultery. 

There are two dedications in the first work; the second is to Juliana Morell (1593-1653) a Dominican nun from Barcelona, famed for her intellect and known to have defended a thesis in canon law in 1608, though whether she was awarded a doctorate, as some sources claim, is unclear. 

A little browned in places but generally fresh.

VD 17 23:280041W. Thorndike VII, pp. 278/9.

Stock Code: 42475