S. Agostino - Le Confessioni - 1677

The Confessions of St. Augustine
Rome, for Michele Ercole, 1677

Small volume in 18mo (about 105 × 50 mm), pp. (12), 396. Contemporary limp parchment binding, with manuscript title on the spine and on the front board ("Confessioni Di S. Agostino"). Signs of wear and losses to the boards (as in the photo).

Frontispiece with dedication to the “Most Illustrious, and Reuerend Sir, Lord Gio: Antonio Solazzi, Confessor of the Most Excellent Ladies Carmelitane of the Holy Incarnation of the Word of God of Rome,” woodcut vignette of Saint Augustine and printer’s mark.
Text in Italian, complete with the ten books of the Confessions, with chapter titles and notes typical of seventeenth-century Roman editions.

On the flyleaf or old endpaper there is a manuscript ownership inscription: “Della Sig.ra / Isabella Burlamacchi” with a calligraphic device (old owner’s signature).

A masterpiece of Christian literature and Western autobiography, the Confessions of Augustine of Hippo (written between 397 and 400) constitute the tale of conversion, the search for God, sin, memory, and time. This Roman edition of 1677, printed by Michele Ercole, is one of the seventeenth‑century Italian versions destined for a cultivated and religious public; it presents the text in ten books, with a dedication to a confessor of the Carmelite order in Rome, testifying to the dissemination of the work among the monastic and devout circles of the Eternal City.

Rare edition on the antiquarian market; complete copies in pocket format of this Roman print appear infrequently at specialized auctions. The reduced format, the original binding, and the presence of an ancient female signature heighten its collectible interest, both for scholars of Augustinian studies and for enthusiasts of seventeenth-century Roman devotional books.

Overall condition is fair, with wear to the binding but the text intact and legible. Ideal for collectors of early editions of Saint Augustine and of seventeenth-century Roman typography.