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671G Bonaventure, Saint.  1221-1274    Opuscula 

Strassburg;[Printer of the 1483 Jordanus de Quedlinburg (ie George Husner)] 18 Dec. 1495            $ Sold

Two Folio volumes , 111/2 x 8 1/2 Inches     .  Fourth edition  Vol I 1/8, 2-4/6, a8, b-g8/6, h6, i-Z6/8, A-Z6/8, AA-EE6/8;  Vol II, (Lacking A1, title exactly the same as the first title excepting for the word ‘secunda’ see image above ) A8, B, C6, aa8, bb-rr8/6, ss, tt6, vv-zz, Aa-QQ8/6, RR, SS6, TT-ZZ, Aaa8/6, Bbb-Eee6.

There are three full paged woodcuts two of the tree of sangunity and one of the order of Angels, Seraphim, etc.  This is a very nice copy full of deckle edges and in original condition. Each volume of these copies is bound in full, contemporary blind-tooled calf over wooden boards. They retain all 16 corner pieces as will as both sets of clasps. In this wonderful copy the first woodcut _(a1verso ) of Christ crucified on the tree of sanguinity has been coloured, the two other woodcuts have non. Both volumes have been nicely rubricated throughout with red Lombard capitals supplied as well.

“Bonaventura presents a marked contrast to his great contemporaries, Thomas Aquinas and Roger Bacon. While these may be taken as representing respectively physical science in its infancy, and Aristotelian scholasticism in its most perfect form, he brings before us the mystical and Platonizing mode of speculation. […] To him the purely intellectual element, though never absent, is of inferior interest when compared with the living power of the affections or the heart.” (EB, 1910, v. 4, p. 198)  __“But more important than any group of positions is his effort to orient philosophy towards theology, and theology toward mystical union.  Without such an effort, philosophy is merely an outgrowth of worldly curiosity, placing man on ‘the infinite precipice.’ In following the controversies of the thirteenth century it is important to remember that for men such as Bonaventure, the price of philosophical error is not merely confusion; it is also the ultimate disaster of damnation.” (Hyman & Walsh) _

Goff B-928 (listing only five institutions holding complete copies); BMC I 144; Pr 639; Hain B468; Polain 777; Pell 2616; GW 4648; Walsh 258; Chrisman, “Bibliography of Strausbourg Imprints,” C1.2.10.