David Georgen ausz Holand deß Ertzkätzers warhafftige Histori, seines Lebens, unnd verfürischen Leer, . . . Basel, (colophon: printed by Hieronymus Curio, September 1559), 1559. Small 4to. With 2 large woodcut gothic decorated initials (56 mm). Set in schwabacher types with incidental fraktur and the year of publication in Roman numerals. Disbound.

[63], [1 blank] pp.First German edition, of a rare and important early biography of the famous Dutch heretic and Anabaptist David Joris. Banished from Holland for his overt rejection of the abuses of the Roman Catholic Church, Joris fled to Friesland, where he met the Anabaptists. He joined them in 1533 after his baptism and tried to appease the disputing parties within the sect. Ecstatic and susceptible to flattery, he declared himself a prophet with a divine mission and supernatural powers. Soon he got many followers, but he and his group were also severely persecuted. In 1554, he came to live in Basle after five years on the run from the Dutch authorities. There he lived with his family as a rich and respected citizen under the name of Jan van Brugge, pretending to be a Reformed refugee while he still kept in touch with his followers in the Southern Netherlands. The present biography is especially valuable for Joris's life in Basle (1554-1556). With a small hole in 1 leaf, waterstains in the fore-edge and head margins, running slightly into the text, but still in good condition. Disbound and some of the sewing lost, so that 1 quire is detatched.l Van der Linde 247; BMC STC German, p. 70; USTC 628444 (citing VD16); VD 16, D319; cf. Adams J-333 (Latin ed.).