Martin von Cochem (1634-1712)

ŽIWOT PÁNA NASSEHO GEŽJSSE KRYSTA A GEHO NEYSWĚTĚGSSÝ MATKY MARYE PANNY

Prague, 1746
Format 8° (larger), 21x17 cm. [2] leaves of preface (incomplete; bound at the back after the index), 1137 numbered pp., [3] leaves of index; in Czech. Title page and part of the preface missing, and leaf pp. 1023/1024 torn out. Initials, headpieces, vignette. Sturdy modern leather rebinding, spine with 4 raised bands. Apart from the missing leaves the book is in good condition, with only minor traces of woodworm. In the 18th and 19th centuries this book was among the most widely read and influential works of popular piety in the Czech lands. Martin von Cochem originally wrote the book in German under the title Das Grosse Leben Christi. It was translated into Czech in the early 18th century by Edelbert Nymburský, also a Capuchin friar, and appeared in numerous editions (e.g. 1746, 1759, 1779). The author vividly, emotionally, and dramatically describes the life of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and their relatives (Saint Anne, Saint Joseph, John the Baptist, and others). He supplements the text with various legends, apocryphal stories, and mystical visions intended to stir deep compassion and piety in the contemporary reader. The book shaped the religious and aesthetic sensibility of several generations of our ancestors and remains a sought-after collector`s rarity today.