Gregorio XVI - Index Librorum Prohibitorum - 1843

Title: Index Librorum Prohibitorum (List of Prohibited Books)

Issuing Authority: Sanctissimus Douti Nostri Gregorii XVI Pontifis Maximi, jussu editus (Issued by order of the Supreme Pontiff Gregory XVI)

Place of printing: Rome

Publisher/Printing: Ex Typographia Reverendae Camerae Apostolicae (Printing House of the Reverend Apostolic Camera)

Year of publication: MDCCCXLIII (1843)

Language: Latin (with the titles of prohibited works cited in their original languages, including Italian, French, and German, as visible on the inner pages)

Binding: Contemporary binding (or slightly later) in green half-leather with red marbled paper boards. Four raised spine nerves, decorated with gilt fillets and friezes, and title impressed in gold: INDEX LIBRORUM PROHIBITORUM.

Condition: Good/Reasonable. The text block appears solid. There are widespread foxing due to the paper type of the era and slight signs of wear on the binding and cuts, consistent with the volume’s age. Present is an antique pencil signature or annotation on the title page (1843).

The 1843 edition, printed in Rome under the pontificate of Pope Gregory XVI (noted for his strongly conservative stance and clear closing off to Modernist and liberal ideas of the time), is particularly interesting. Flipping through the inner pages, one can notice how the Index gathered centuries of censorship, arranged alphabetically by author. Among the various names, there are condemnations of philosophical, scientific, historical, and religious texts (including works of Protestant theology, treaties of law, and writings by historical authors such as Baronius or Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment French and German authors). Half-leather with a gilt-decorated spine.