[PIUS II - ISLAM]. Pius II, the most eloquent of popes, who died // in the year 1464 in Ancona, while preparing // to set out against the Turks, composed this. &c. No place, no date. [Cologne, Ulrich Zell, circa 1463/1464]. Small 8vo (140 x 209 mm), ivory vellum with small overlaps, edges gilded, chiseled, and painted (pastiche binding). [54] unsigned folios, the first blank. 27 or 28 lines per page. Pius II (1405–1464), whose real name was Enea Silvio (or Æneas Sylvius) Bartoloméo PICCOLOMINI, wrote and issued this diplomatic “Letter to Mehmed II” in 1462 with the aim of proposing to the sultan, who had just conquered Constantinople, that he convert to Christianity in exchange for recognition of his empire. The text also contains a lengthy theological critique of Islam. A BEAUTIFUL COPY WITH RUBRIQUED INITIALS FROM ONE OF THE FIRST BOOKS PRINTED IN COLOGNE BY ULRICH ZELL († 1507), A STUDENT OF GUTENBERG. Brunet, Suppl., I, 10; Pellechet, 110; Stillwell, 630.