BUDE Guillaume De transitu Hellenismi ad Christianismum, libri tres.

Renouard, Estienne, 41:1; Adams, B-3127; not in Schreiber.

First edition.

De Transitu was written by Guillaume Budé in 1535 and deals with his conception of conversion, or purification of the soul, which he calls transition.

“The rest of the text insists on the need for a gradual preparation, which takes the form of a purification of the soul; there remains, however, the moment of passage, which can also be called conversion, or, to use Budé’s Pauline image, circumcision… The word used by the humanist to designate the leap to be made is ‘transitus’, a term he would later use in the title of his last work, De Transitu Hellenismi ad Christianismum” (see : Hélène Parenty: Isaac Causaubon, helléniste, p. 295).

 Title page formerly reinforced.

Provenance: Earls of Macclesfield (book plate from  North Library, dry stamp on title page).