[William Allen]. HISTORIA DEL GLORIOSO MARTIRIO DI SEDICI SACERDOTI... Macerata, [Italy]: Appresso Sebastiano Martellini, 1583. Limp vellum, yapp edge, ink manuscript on front cover and spine. 8vo; A-N8 O4; 210, [6]pp. Italic type; text in Italian. With woodcut device on title page, woodcut initials, ornaments and illustrations, printed marginalia. Edit16 1208; USTC 808824.

6 3/4 x 4 1/2 in.

From the Collection of Professor Roberto Severino, Washington, D.C.

William Allen (English, 1532-1594) was a Roman Catholic scholar and cardinal who actively worked against the rise of Protestantism in England by establishing English missionary colleges in France, Rome, and Spain. He moved to Rome permanently in the 1580s where the Pope made him Prefect of the Vatican library. His History of the Glorious Martyrdom of Sixteen Priests Martyred in England for their Confession, and Defense of the Catholic Faith was first published in 1583, and then published again the following year in both Naples and Milan.

Wear, stains, warping and small cracks to vellum with small loss to (1) corner, tears at head and tail, lacking ties; tears, chips, and wormholes to endpapers; pages lightly toned with occasional stains mostly at rear, light damp stains, writing on title page.