Johann Senftleben (1648-1693)

PRODROMUS ARISTOTELICUS AND THESES EX PHILOSOPHIA RATIONALI

Prague, ca. 1750
Format 16°, 12.5x7.5 cm. Copper-engraved frontispiece depicting a Jesuit scholar (philosopher) in his study. PRODROMUS ARISTOTELICUS Seu SUMMULARIA eorum declaratio, Quae ad universam Aristotelis Philosophiam, necessario sunt praenoscenda. 82 numbered pp., in Latin. THESES EX PHILOSOPHIA RATIONALI. 141 numbered pp., in Latin. Sturdy leather binding, spine with 3 raised bands. Ownership inscriptions dated 1758 and 1761 on the title pages. Binding partly detached from the text block, which is complete; overall soiled, edges frayed, traces of woodworm, clasps surviving only in fragments. A philosophical textbook, first published in 1685. It served as an introduction to logic and Aristotelian philosophy for students at Jesuit colleges in Bohemia. In the Baroque period it was common practice to dedicate scholarly and pedagogical works to patrons — in this case to the very protectress of the Kingdom of Bohemia, the Virgin Mary of Svatá Hora (VIRGINI DEI-PARAE IN MONTE SANCTO AD PRZIBRAM IN REGNO BOHEMIAE).