A DEFENCE OF CATHOLIC PRINCIPLES in a Letter to a Protestant Minister
Pittsburgh: S. Engles, 1816. 1st Edition. Leather bound. 144p. 16mo, measuring 3 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches. Bound in full brown leather; large piece of leather torn from front cover exposing the cardboard beneath. Rear cover badly worn, missing a portion of the top edge. Old staining and foxing throughout. Ex-libris from St. Charles College, a Maryland seminary which closed in 1969. Poor condition but the interior is complete and readable and the binding is still tight. Item #1241963
THE RARE FIRST EDITION OF GALLITZIN'S MOST FAMOUS WORK. Published in Pittsburgh in 1816, the work would go to be published in larger cities over the decades and widely spread as an apologetical work. Prince Demetrius Gallitzin was a Catholic priest of Russian ancestry who wrote many tracts in defense of Catholicism. A member of the Russian aristocracy, he gave up his inheritance to work as a priest in the United States. Gallitzin became known as the "Apostle of the Alleghenies" and was instrumental in establishing the Catholic Church in Western Pennsylvania. He is now a candidate for sainthood and has been declared a Servant of God. This book was his first work and is today rare. Shaw 37730. Parsons 524.
Price: $750.00