[Acta Sanctorum] J. Bolland. Praefationes, tractatus, diatribae et exegeses praeliminiares

atque nonnulla venerande Antiquitatistum sacrae, cum profanae monumenta a Joanne Bollando. Venice, Coleti and Albrizzi (and vol. 2 also Antw., M. Knobbarus), 1749-1751, 3 vols., (2),VIII,518; VIII,608; VIII,XVIII,842 p., richly illustrated w. a total of 80 (fold./ double-p.) etched plates and a number of ills. in the text, contemp. unif. full vellum, ribbed spine w. mor. letterpieces, folio.

Vol. 1 and 3 occas. waterst., and w. long stretches of mispagination. Vol. 1 vellum over backcover dam. near spine, and w. old library ticket in top compartment of spine. Scarce excerpt of the monumental Acta Sanctorum (68 vols. published up till now), a critical hagriography started by Heribert Rosweyde, and after his death in 1629, continued by the Jesuit scholar Jean Bolland (Bollandus, 1596–1665). The work is still in progress, edited by the so called "Bollandists". The plates show a.o. beautiful facsimiles of early church-charters, the Russian holy calendar with all the saints at their appropriate places for each month (12 plates), and 244 portraits of popes (from Petrus up to Innocentius XI, 41 plates).