Tractatus de futuris christianorum triumphis in saracenos

8vo. ff. [55] (without last blank). Signatures: a-g8. With large woodcut printer's device on title, depicting a shield with three shells, held by St. George and St. James; gothic letter; expertly cleaned. Blue-black morocco (by M. Godillot), gilt lettered spine, and inner gilt dentelles. Imprint from leaf a3v and ISTC; Goff and GW date to about 1495, ISTC to about 1499. False colophon on leaf g7r: "Ex genua [Genoa]. M.cccc.lxxx. die. xxxi. Martii in sabbato sancto completum. First Paris edition (1st ed.1480; Genoa) of this famous and prophecy of the Christian victory over the Turkish threat from the apocalypse and constellations by the Dominican friar Giovanni Nanni (ca. 1432-1502) who dedicates it to Pope Sixtus IV (1414-1484). Annius’s goal was to show that astrological science was in harmony with and confirmed scriptural revelation. He first composed the last section, on astrology, and later added two more sections, one on the antichrist and another in which he interpreted the Apocalypse. After completion, on March 31 1480, he sent copies to the Pope and several European worldly rulers. Because he did not receive an answer from these dignitaries, he had the book published in Genoa on December 8 of the same year, and the work turned out to be a best-seller. At least 6 more editions were published in different locations. In his work book, Annius responded to the anti-Islamic sentiment that had gained traction among the general public, stating that the prophet Mohammed was the antichrist and likening Islam to the ‘beast’ of the Book of Revelation. According to Annius, the Book of Revelation professed that after an invasion of ‘Arabia,’ the whole world would be christianized. See L. Thorndike, A History of Magic and Experimental Science. New York, 1934, vol. IV, p. 264ff; F. R. Goff, Incunabula in American Libraries: A Third Census. Millwood (N.Y.), 1973, A-756; Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke. Leipzig [etc.], 2023; Incunabula Short Title Catalogue (online) ia00757200; British Museum, Catalogue of Books Printed in the XVth Century Now in the British Museum, vol.VII, 199, L. Hain, Repertorium bibliographicum. Stuttgart, 1826, 1125. Click here to view the Johns Hopkins University catalog record.