POLYGAMY, ADULTERY, DIVORCE: SELECT AND CURIOUS CASES, 1736 FIRST EDITION

(LAW) (POLYGAMY) (ADULTERY) (OCHINO, Bernardino). Select and Curious Cases of Polygamy, Concubinage, Adultery, Divorce, &c. London: Olive Payne, 1736. 12mo, period-style full speckled calf, elaborately gilt-decorated spine, raised bands, red morocco spine label. $2500.

First edition of this "complete collection of all the remarkable trials and tracts" regarding polygamy, concubinage, adultery and divorce, "seriously and learnedly discussed." Very handsomely bound.

Much of this volume is given over to "Memoirs and Testimonies of the Life and Writings of Bernardino Ochino," a 16th-century Roman Catholic freethinker who converted to Protestantism and became a Protestant reformer as well. He was accused of justifying polygamy in his Thirty Dialogues; his dialogues on divorce and against the Trinity were also considered heretical, and he was compelled to move from country to country to avoid persecution.

Occasional toning and minor staining to text. Calf-gilt binding fine and quite handsome.