1742
DE DISCRETIONE SPIRITUUM LIBER UNUS
By Cardinal Jean Bona
KEY DETAILS
Condition: Good
Format: Vellum, Small/Crown octavo (8vo 5 3⁄8 × 8 in 137 × 203 mm )
Note: Binding/size selection follows standard bibliographic conventions and is approximate; exact measurements may vary.
Published By: Jo: Mariam Lazzaroni, Venice, 1742
Language: Latin
Collation: I. De Discretione Spirituum: [2] blanks, Title 1f., [1]; Index a2-a4: pp. 5–10; Text pp. 1–360.; II. Via Compendii ad Deum: Title 1f., [1]; Praefatio A2–A4; Index A4–A7; Text pp. 6–230; [2] terminal blanks.
Dust Jacket: None, as issued, No Jacket
SKU: BTETM0001386
Shipping Info: Approximate Package Dimensions H: 12.5, L: 30, W: 25 (Units: cm), W: 2Kg
Tracked Shipping, Insurance Coverage as per Customer Request
CONDITION, COLLATION & COPY NOTES
8vo (170 × 100 mm). Vellum modestly soiled and creased; yapp edges worn; manuscript spine titling legible; text-block sound; faint marginal tide mark to prelims; scattered foxing; deckle edges. No worming.
Early scholasticate stamp “Scolasticat Soc. de Marie” to title; small early shelf label “E.P.” to pastedown. A solid, complete, and pleasing example.
Complete as issued.
Graesse I, 498 (Bona)
Barbier, Dictionnaire des ouvrages anonymes
Hurter, Nomenclator, III, 183–4 (Bona’s mystico-ascetical corpus)
Backer-Sommervogel II, 1716 (Jesuit reception)
Please see Photos as part of condition report.
SYNOPSIS
A desirable Venetian printing of Bona’s classic treatises on mystical theology and the discernment of spirits, in its original limp vellum binding with manuscript spine title and surviving tie remnants. A compact and handsome devotional volume intended for spiritual directors, monastic houses, and those practised in ascetic theology.
Part 1 De Discretione Spirituum, Liber Unus
Part 2 Via Compendii ad Deum.
DE DISCRETIONE SPIRITUUM LIBER UNUS [DISCERNMENT OF SPIRITS] - discernment supposes the principle that two spirits may possess man, the spirit of good [Angels] and the spirit of evil [Demons] - one of the earliest and most influential Catholic systematic texts on spiritual discernment — later referenced in Jesuit and mystical literature.
Roman Catholic
The book concerns:
Recognizing authentic divine inspiration vs. imagination, emotion, or deception
Spiritual psychology and mystical theology
The role of grace, prayer, humility, and asceticism
Criteria for discernment derived from Church Fathers, especially St. Bernard
Practical instruction for monks, confessors, and theologians
Index (table of contents) highlights:
Difficulty & necessity of discernment
Types of grace
Classification of spirits
Interior vs exterior inspiration
Dangers of false spiritual impulses
Essentially: how to judge spiritual experiences safely and correctly.
AUTHOR BIO
Giovanni Bona (1609–1674), a Cistercian and later Cardinal, was among the great systematisers of early-modern Catholic spirituality. De Discretione Spirituum is his most sought-after mystical-theological text: a careful attempt to distinguish divine promptings from natural impulses or demonic deception — deeply influential in later Benedictine, Jesuit, and French school spiritual traditions. Bound here, as issued, with his concise mystical theology manual Via Compendii ad Deum.
1742
DE DISCRETIONE SPIRITUUM LIBER UNUS
By Cardinal Jean Bona
KEY DETAILS
Condition: Good
Format: Vellum, Small/Crown octavo (8vo 5 3⁄8 × 8 in 137 × 203 mm )
Note: Binding/size selection follows standard bibliographic conventions and is approximate; exact measurements may vary.
Published By: Jo: Mariam Lazzaroni, Venice, 1742
Language: Latin
Collation: I. De Discretione Spirituum: [2] blanks, Title 1f., [1]; Index a2-a4: pp. 5–10; Text pp. 1–360.; II. Via Compendii ad Deum: Title 1f., [1]; Praefatio A2–A4; Index A4–A7; Text pp. 6–230; [2] terminal blanks.
Dust Jacket: None, as issued, No Jacket
SKU: BTETM0001386
Shipping Info: Approximate Package Dimensions H: 12.5, L: 30, W: 25 (Units: cm), W: 2Kg
Tracked Shipping, Insurance Coverage as per Customer Request
CONDITION, COLLATION & COPY NOTES
8vo (170 × 100 mm). Vellum modestly soiled and creased; yapp edges worn; manuscript spine titling legible; text-block sound; faint marginal tide mark to prelims; scattered foxing; deckle edges. No worming.
Early scholasticate stamp “Scolasticat Soc. de Marie” to title; small early shelf label “E.P.” to pastedown. A solid, complete, and pleasing example.
Complete as issued.
Graesse I, 498 (Bona)
Barbier, Dictionnaire des ouvrages anonymes
Hurter, Nomenclator, III, 183–4 (Bona’s mystico-ascetical corpus)
Backer-Sommervogel II, 1716 (Jesuit reception)
Please see Photos as part of condition report.
SYNOPSIS
A desirable Venetian printing of Bona’s classic treatises on mystical theology and the discernment of spirits, in its original limp vellum binding with manuscript spine title and surviving tie remnants. A compact and handsome devotional volume intended for spiritual directors, monastic houses, and those practised in ascetic theology.
Part 1 De Discretione Spirituum, Liber Unus
Part 2 Via Compendii ad Deum.
DE DISCRETIONE SPIRITUUM LIBER UNUS [DISCERNMENT OF SPIRITS] - discernment supposes the principle that two spirits may possess man, the spirit of good [Angels] and the spirit of evil [Demons] - one of the earliest and most influential Catholic systematic texts on spiritual discernment — later referenced in Jesuit and mystical literature.
Roman Catholic
The book concerns:
Recognizing authentic divine inspiration vs. imagination, emotion, or deception
Spiritual psychology and mystical theology
The role of grace, prayer, humility, and asceticism
Criteria for discernment derived from Church Fathers, especially St. Bernard
Practical instruction for monks, confessors, and theologians
Index (table of contents) highlights:
Difficulty & necessity of discernment
Types of grace
Classification of spirits
Interior vs exterior inspiration
Dangers of false spiritual impulses
Essentially: how to judge spiritual experiences safely and correctly.
AUTHOR BIO
Giovanni Bona (1609–1674), a Cistercian and later Cardinal, was among the great systematisers of early-modern Catholic spirituality. De Discretione Spirituum is his most sought-after mystical-theological text: a careful attempt to distinguish divine promptings from natural impulses or demonic deception — deeply influential in later Benedictine, Jesuit, and French school spiritual traditions. Bound here, as issued, with his concise mystical theology manual Via Compendii ad Deum.
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