[VERSTEGAN, Richard. Theatrum Crudelitatum Haereticorum Nostri Temporis. Antwerp: Adrien Hubert, circa 1590.] 4to (204 x 157mm.) 29 engraved illustrations by Richard Rowland [Richard Verstegan], showing scenes of diabolic torture, 9 blank leaves to front, verses and prose commentary in Latin. (Lacking title, frontispiece and all text leaves until C1 (p.17), damp-staining from I2 to last leaf, M4, soiling to C2.) Early 19th century full panelled calf, gilt borders (extremities rubbed, small loss to spine ends). Note: first published in 1587, again in 1588, and a third Latin edition was published in 1592. Richard Verstegan was an Anglo-Dutch Catholic convert living in exile. His work was a warning to the public of the dangers of a Protestant accession, and it provoked a demand for his extradition to face a claim of libel against Queen Elizabeth I. The tortures depicted are perpetrated not only by Protestants, but also Huguenots and Calvinists and represent a Europe-wide danger that the Catholic would be castrated, disembowelled, forced to drink boiling oil, the gouging out of eyes, ears and noses, burning feet, hanging upside down, the rolling up of innards upon a stick. The last illustration shows the beheading of Mary I Stuart of Scotland in 1567. There is also a variant of the ‘Massacre of the Innocents’.