Johann Arndt; Samuel Ludwik Zasadius, Six Books on True Christianity […]; [appended:] Rayski’s Little Garden Full of Virtues… [1743]

Authors: ARNDT, Johann (1555–1621) [German Lutheran theologian, general superintendent of the Duchy of Lüneburg, pioneer of evangelical pietism]; Rev. Samuel Ludwik ZASADIUS (1695–1756) [Polish Evangelical pastor, preacher, and defender of Polish identity in Cieszyn Silesia]

Publisher: Printing House in Königsberg [no publisher’s mark due to the absence of title pages]

Year of publication: 1743

Size: 19 cm

Volume: Six books…: pp. 19–960 + [24] blank pages of the index [pp. I–XVIII and the title page are missing]; Rayski Ogrodeczek…: [8] unnumbered pages + 240 pp. [no title page]

Binding: Period leather binding, thick wooden boards covered with dark natural leather; the text block and binding are severely damaged.

Johann Arndt, a Lutheran theologian and author of *Six Books on True Christianity* (Wahres Christentum, 1605–1610), had an enormous influence on Protestant piety; for two centuries, his book was, after the Bible, one of the most widely read works in Protestant homes in Germany, Scandinavia, and Central Europe. Arndt taught that faith without an inner transformation of the heart is dead, and the Pietists adopted this idea. The Polish edition (Königsberg, 1743) was prepared by Rev. Samuel Ludwik Zasadius (1695–1756), an Evangelical pastor in Cieszyn Silesia and a champion of the Polish language in worship services. The co-bound *Rayski Ogrodeczek* is a collection of prayers and hymns. In total, it comprises approximately 1,200 pages of 18th-century Polish Evangelical literature.

Incomplete copy: the title pages and pp. I–XVIII are missing. The text block and the period leather binding are severely damaged.

An item from the 18th Polish Antiquarian Book Auction.