Alcoranus Franciscanorum id est, Blasphemiarum et nugarum Lerna, de stigmatisato Idolo quod Franciscum vocant, ex libro Conformitatum, Versiculus Franciscanorum. Franciscus est in coelo, Respondio Quis dubitat de illo? Antiphona Totus Mundus.

‘(engraved titlepage) 248 p. Contemporary cardboard Binding, 12° (spine is worn, Rare fourth edition of the translation into Latin of Erasmus Alberus’ Der Barfusser Monche Eulenspiegel und Alkoran, a prose satire to which Martin Luther wrote the postscript. The first edition of the German original appeared in Wittenberg by Hans Luft in 1542, followed by the Latin translation in Frankfurt a year later. The second and third Latin edition were published resp. in 1560 and 1578. This parodic adaptation of the Liber conformitatum of the Franciscan Bartolommeo Rinonico (or Albizzi) of Pisa is written by Erasmus Alberus (ca. 1500-1553), a German humanist, reformer, and poet, who was born in the village of Bruchenbrücken, near Frankfurt am Main. Although his father was a schoolmaster, his early education was neglected. Ultimately in 1518 he found his way to the University of Wittenberg, where he studied theology. He had the good fortune to attract the attention of Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon, and subsequently became one of Luther’s most active helpers. Not only did he fight for the Protestant cause as a preacher and theologian, but he was almost the only member of Luther’s party who was able to confront the Roman Catholics with the weapon of literary satire. After Luther’s death, Alberus was for a time a deacon in Wittenberg, he became involved, however, in the political conflicts of the time. In 1552 he was appointed Generalsuperintendent at Neubrandenburg in Mecklenburg, where he died on the 5th of May 1553.)