Contains fourteen of Thomas Birrell's articles published between 1950 and 2006 / Chapters examine seventeenth- and eighteenth-century English catholic history / Will appeal to all those interested in early modern history and the history of religion

Contains fourteen of Thomas Birrell's articles published between 1950 and 2006 / Chapters examine seventeenth- and eighteenth-century English catholic history / Will appeal to all those interested in early modern history and the history of religion

Some 280 letters from a leading figure in the eighteenth-century Catholic community shed new light on a turbulent period. Edited by FRANS KORSTEN, JOSS BLOM, FRANS BLOM AND GEOFFREY SCOTT James Peter Coghlan [1731-1800] was the chief English Catholic printer, publisher and bookseller of the second half of the eighteenth century. It was mainly through him that the English Catholics were provided with an extensive polemical, catechetical, pastoral and devotional literature of their own. Coghlan was also a pivotal figure in the infrastructure and logistics of the Catholic community, acting as a middleman between the various layers and segments of that community. In the turbulent days of the Catholic Committee after 1785, he found himself uneasily in the midst of the fray. He corresponded with dozens of British Catholics, at home and abroad, and his letters, pious, shrewd, dedicated, garrulous and eminently practical, yield a fascinating insight into the day-to-day working of Catholic book production as well as the behind-the-scenes life of the English Catholic community. FRANS KORSTEN, JOSS BLOM and FRANS BLOM teach English Literature at Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. GEOFFREY SCOTT is Abbot of Douai.

The history of the angelicall virgin glorious S.Clare (Douai 1635) is a translation by 'Sister Magdalen' of a work by the Franciscan priest FranAois Hendricq, Vie admirable de madame S. Claire fondatrice des Pauvres Clairesses (1631). In its turn Hendricq's book is largely a translation of parts of Luke Wadding's Annales ordinis minorum ('Annals of the Franciscan Order'). These volumes include an account of the activities of the young woman, Clara Offreduccio di Favarone, one of the many followers of St. Francis of Assisi. In 1212 Clara was advised by St. Francis to withdraw to the monastery at San Damiano in Assisi. In this way St. Francis founded his Second Order, an order of religious women known as the Poor Clares. 'Sister Magdalen' has been identified as Elizabeth Evelinge who belonged to a dissident group of Poor Clares that left their English convent at Gravelines in 1627 and started a new convent at Aire in May 1629. The copy of her translation reproduced in this volume is that of Heythrop College, University of London.

Thomas Baker (1656 1740) occupied an important position in the world of antiquarian and historical learning in the first forty years of the eighteenth century. He was a well-informed historical scholar at home in theology, law, science and philosophy, whose scholarship extended to the history of the book and the book trade. His voluminous correspondence was almost entirely about books, and he emerges from it as a bibliographer and book-collector of note. This catalogue attempts a reconstruction of Baker's library of some 4300 titles. The library reflects the man, particularly his absorption in and love of St John's College, Cambridge, which retained the cream of his collection, and the University. Dr Korsten provides a biographical sketch, an account of Baker as book-collector and bibliographer, and a general survey and assessment of his library.

Thomas Baker (1656-1740) occupied an important position in the world of antiquarian and historical learning in the first 40 years of the 18th century. He was a well-informed historical scholar at home in theology, law, science and philosophy, whose scholarship extended to the history of the book and the book trade. His voluminous correspondence was almost entirely about books, and he emerges from it as a bibliographer and book-collector of note.