Christianae iuventutis crepundia.

8vo: [24] ff. (title soiled, some minor marginal soiling).

Old vellum-covered boards (sl. warping). Very good copy.

Extr. rare (unrecorded?) very early Bern imprint by the city’s first printer Matthias Apiarius (Biener, 1495-1554), who on 19 January 1537 started printing there (after working for five years in Strasbourg). This booklet was evidently produced for the local Latin School. It is a Protestant primer, starting with the alphabet, followed by the standard texts Pater Noster, Ave Maria, Credo, Ten Commandments, chapters from Luke and Mathew, table prayers, a poem on table manners (Quae in mensa puero observanda), hymns, a Gratiarum actio, and concluding with rules for reading and playing. The anonymously published compilation was 1st printed in Zürich in 1527, and many times reprinted. It was one of the first primers to be put on the Index of Forbidden Books.
Ref. Not in VD16, WorldCat, Buisson etc.
Prov. Old ownership entry and stamp on title erased.