Fascicule XII

July MMXIII

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1) 832g  manuscript breviary                                         

Substantial fragment of a medieval manuscript breviary, 14^thcentury, probably Italian.

 

Created: Italy, probably Taranto, between 1350 and 1400.      $SOLD

This copy is bound in its original deerskin over wooden boards, recently conserved and restored. This wonderful fragment is from the library ofHerbert Bloch, Pope Professor of the Latin Language and Literature, at Harvard from 1941 to 1983 He served as President of Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America (1990–93). Professor Bloch, was the author of   The Atina Dossier of Peter the Deacon ofMonte Cassino. A Hagiographical Romance of the Twelfth Centurypublished in the series Studi e Testi 346 (1998).

This book has very interesting pastedowns, consisting of

Two Bifolia written in a minuscule from  late 11^th or early 12^th: century proto gothic book hand.(early form of Gothic script of the 11th and 12th centuries)

 

¶One bifolum. measures 340 x 234 mm and consists of 32 lines on both sides .

¶ Bifolum two measurse 330 x223mm and consists of 28 and 28 1/2  lines.

These two bifolia have not been removed from the binding, but they  are very legable. The script is easy to read as the letters conform to the type of the Caroline minuscule predecessor, except that the letters have-not become angular but DO have developed feet. The individual letters are well separated and there are no incomprehensible rows of minims. 

Letters such as h, b and l have wedged ascenders.  The letter s is tall and t is short sometimes . There is no j, k, y or z in the example, but the letter w Does Not appear. The ST ligature appears, as found in some very formal Caroline minuscule text.  The vellum is swarthy and is with easily visible guide incisions.

 

The Breviary

Large Octavo, 9 ¼x 6 ¼inches. 72 vellum leaves; nine complete signatures of eight leaves each.

Manuscript breviary, Roman rite for Franciscan use; written and illuminated in Italy.

The Breviary is the book that contains the texts of the Divine Office, the highest form of prayer of the Church after the Mass itself. It is usually published as a four-volume set, each of which covers one of the four seasons of the year.  Each volume contains the various parts of the Divine Office, entirely in Latin, and divided up according to its content.  In order to recite the Divine Office from these volumes, it was necessary to go through a long period of training, usually accomplished by a young priest during his seminary formation.  Extensive knowledge was required of a very complex set of “rubrics” or instructions, which were also published in Latin.  The average lay person had always been excluded from this highest form of prayer, not deliberately, but simply because of his lack of knowledge of Latin and of the rubrics.

 

De Mensurabili Musica (concerning measured music) is a musical treatise from the early 13th century (medieval period, c. 1240) and is the first of two treatises traditionally attributed to French music theorist Johannes de Garlandia; the other is de plana musica (Concerning Plainchant). De Mensurabili Musica was the first to explain a modal rhythmic system that was already in use at the time: the rhythmic modes. The six rhythmic modes set out by the treatise are all in triple time and are made from combinations of the note values longa (long)and brevis (short) and are given the names trochee, iamb, dactyl, anapest, spondaic and tribrach, although trochee, dactyl and spondaic were much more common. It is evident how influential Garlandia’s  treatise has been by the number of theorists that have used its ideas. Much of the surviving music of the Notre Dame School from the 13th century is based on the rhythmic modes set out in De Mensurabili Musica.

 

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2) 181J    Psalterium Latinum.

A fifteenth century

 Manuscript Psalter

surrounded on every page by an untitled 18^thcentury English History manuscript

Tours, France circa 1430                                                  $95,000

Quarto: 19.5 X 14 cm.  171 parchment leaves plus 1 unsigned with vertical catchwords.

A fifteenth-century manuscript Psalter with an early eighteenth-century English manuscript written in the margins throughout. The English work is mainly historical with long polemical passages concerning the Church of England. The primary aim of the author, who writes with a strong Catholic bias, is to demonstrate the illegitimacy of the reformed Church.

This psalter has a long English Provenance, stretching   back to the first quarter of the sixteenth-century, when this Psalter was owned by Alice Lupset, the mother of the English humanist Thomas Lupset (See below for a full discussion.)

The Psalter:

The illuminations in this volume is exquisite, with all of the large initials done in gold and colors, with great skill. The nine large (7-line) gilt initials are all accompanied by full illuminated borders containing leaves, fruit, flowers, and vines in many shades of blue, red, green, yellow, and orange, with gilded highlights.  There are several other 4-line gilt initials in the text as well as many two and one –line initial letters.

This manuscript prayer book contains the complete text of the Psalms of David. The first 118 Psalms. These are followed by eighteen named Psalms (Beth, Gimel, et cetera) These are followed by Psalms 119 through 150 and, finally, eight other Psalms

This manuscripts dates to ca 1430. None of the popular saints canonized in the 1440’s and 1450’s appear either in the calendar or in the litany of saints. This manuscript contains almost exclusively the names of universally honored saints and festival occasions for the church as its “red letter days”

Provenance:

 

• The sixteenth century:

A sixteenth century inscription on the final leaf informing us that this book belonged to Alice Lupset (died 1543/4) wife of the goldsmith Thomas Lupset (died 1522/3) and mother of the English Humanist

The Inscription reads

 “Thes boke belongeth unto syster Lupshed sum tyme the wife of Thomas Lupshed gol smyth

A second shorter inscriptionapparently in the same hand reads

                 “Lent to syster Baker”

The feast days for English saints have been added to the calendar in an early sixteenth century hand (for example Cuthbert leaf 2 recto) In accordance with Henry VIII’s Proclamation of 1534 the word “Papa” has been duly erased from all entriesin the calendar bearing the names of popes. The Addition of English names (which are written in an English cursive hand similar to the one usedfor the ownership inscriptions) and the erasure of the word “Pope’ were quite possibly made by Alice Lupset herself.

• Now to the seventeenth-century. There is a single signature, only partly legible, on the final leaf: “George {???}
• The eighteenth-century and nineteenth-century: The ownership inscription of James Leatherbarrow appears on the first leaf and reads :

“Jas Leatherbarrow’s book 1751 No[vember] 13”

A nineteenth-century inscription on the rear flyleaf records the names of the subsequent owners of this manuscript: “This book belonged to James Leatherbarrow in 1751. See the name on the first page_by whom it was given to his Brother John Leatherbarrow, who gave it to his Daughter Mrs. Ann Lithgow, who gave it to her edest Daughter Mrs.Gasney & from her it came into the possession of her sister Elizabeth Lithgow. February 14, 1841” In another inscription John Lithgow identifies hiself as the son of Anne Lithgow.

From John Lithgow the manuscript passed to William Ormerod (1818-1860)

The English manuscript :

Surrounding, or rather filling the entire margins of the Psalter. The work is part religious, part history, and part chronicle. The, as of now, unidentified author’s purpose is to expose the usurpation of the Church and the throne of England by Protestants, beginning with Lord Somerset, and to demonstrate the legitimate authority of the Catholic Church by tracing the history of Christanity in England and chronicling – using lists excerpted from other sources- the succession of the kings and bishops of England. A number of printed and at least one manuscript work are quoted in full while others are digested or presented only in excerpt. The author of the manuscript then comments then comments upon these works, often at length, making the voices of our author and his sources difficult to parse.

The author cites a number of late seventeenth-century works, including Burnet’s “History of the Reformation”,and  Jeremy Collier’s Historical Dictionary. A reference to John Harris’ Lexicon Technicum gives a terminus post quem of 1704.

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3) 202J

Nicolas deLyra, 1270-1340

The codex begins

Postilla super Actus Apostolorum, Epistolas Canonicales et Apocalypism.

 Incipit praefatio sancti Hieronymi   prƒbti De corpore epist bean Pauli    apopot..

 ca 1460 in several hands (see below)                           $75,000

Folio, 11 3/4 X 7 3/4. Manuscript on Paper 386 leaves.

The Postillae constitute the first Christian Bible commentary to be printed. The literalist approach led Nicholas to *Rashi, whom he often cites by name (Salomo). In this he had been anticipated by the Victorine scholars, especially by *Andrew of Saint Victor whom he quotes (G. Calandra, De… Andreae Victorini… in Ecclesiasten (1948), 83–85). However, Nicholas, who records his perusal of a controversial tract hebraice scriptus (“written in Hebrew”; see Hailperin in bibl., p. 140), used Rashi directly as well. In addition he read some rabbinic material in Raymond *Martini’s Pugio Fidei. Soon after his death, Nicholas’ Postillae were available in virtually every library in western Christendom. Nicholas had abiding influence (Hailperin, p. 282f.). Wycliffe acknowledged his indebtedness to Nicholas in his (later) English version of the Bible (c. 1388)

*Luther was particularly dependent on him, especially on Genesis. In his commentary to Daniel, Abrabanel controverts Nicholas’ christological exegesis.

[A full physical description of the hands and decorative initals are available on request]

Thus begins the Pauline epistles :(two columns) fol 6 Romans fol 19 first Corinthians fol 31 second Corinthians fol 39 Galations fol 43 Ephesians fol 47 Philippians fol 50 Colossians fol 54 Laodocians fol 53 first Thessalonians fol 56 second Thessalonians fol 57 first Timothy fol 60 second Timothy fol 63 Titus fol 64 Philemon fol 65-80 Hebrews fol 80-97 John revelation( Apokalypse) fol 98 James Apocalypse fol 100 first Peter Apocalypse fol 106 first-third John fol 109 Jude fol 111 preface to Acts fol 113 Acts fol 146 ( new hand / single column)fol 146-170 (at 162 text switches to two columns [ Same hand]Postill (de Lyra?) Sup explanm Romans fol 170-242 Paul vocatus Apls’- thessalonians fol 242 Paul Secundum fol 288 Quatuor fol 353 Explicit postilla Apocalypum.fol 353 Incipit Postilla of Nicolai de Lyra sup apocalipsum- fol 383 -Explicit Postilla of Nicolai de Lyra sup apocalipsum (End ) Nicholas was born at Lyra in Normandy 1270 and he died in Paris in 1340. The report that he was of Jewish descent dates only from the fifteenth century. He took the Franciscan habit at Verneuil, studied theology, received the doctor’s degree in Paris and was appointed professor at the Sorbonne. In the famous controversy on the Beatific vision he took sides with the professors against John XXII. He laboured very successfully both in preaching and writing, for the conversion for the Jews. He is the author of numerous theological works, some of which are yet unpublished. It was to exegesis that Nicholas of Lyra devoted his best years. In his second prologue to his monumental work “Postilla perpetu in universam S. Scripturam” after stating that the literal sense of Sacred Scriptureis the foundation of all mystical exigesis.

The literal sense, the avers, is much obscured, owing partly to the unskilfulness of some of the correctors, and partly also to our own translation (the Vulgate) which not infrequently departs from the original Hebrew. He holds with St. Jerome that the text must be corrected from the Hebrew codices, except of course the prophecies concerning the Divinity of Christ. Another reason for this obscurity, Nicholas goes on to say, is the attachment of scholars to the method of interpretation handed down by others, who, though they have said many things well, have yet touched sparingly on the literal sense, and have so multiplied the mystical senses as nearly to choke it. Moreover, the text has been distorted by a multiplicity of arbitrary divisions and concordances. Hereupon he declares his intention of insisting, in the present work, upon the literal sense and of interspersing only a few mystical interpretations. Nicholas utilized all available sources, fully mastered the Hebrew and drew copiously from the valuable commentaries of the Jewish exegetes, especially of the celebrated Talmudist Russia (Rashi).

“The Pugio Fidei” of Raymond Martini and the commentaries of St. Thomas Aquinas were laid under contribution. His (Nicholas de Lyra) is lucid and concise; his observations are are judicious and sound, and always original. The Postilla soon became the favorite manual of exegesis. The solid learning of Nicholas commanded the respect of both Jews and Christians.

 

Luther owes much to Nicholas of Lyra, but how widely the principles of Nicholas differed essentially from Luther’s views is best seen from Nicholas’s own words:

 

“ I protest that I do not intend to assert or determine anything that has not been manifestly determined by Sacred Scripture or by the authority of the Church.. Wherefore I submit all I have said or shall say to the correction of Holy Mother Church and of all the learned men.’.

(Prol. secund in Postillas…)

Nicholas taught no new doctrine. The early Fathers and the great schoolman had repeatedly laid down the same sound exegetical principles, but owing to adverse tendencies of the times, their efforts had partly failed. Nicholas carried out these principles effectively, and in this lies his chief merit – one which ranks him among the foremost exegites of all times.╙(Catholic Encyclopedia , Vol. XI, Thomas Plassman, p. 63)

 

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The “Praeparitio” is a gigantic feat of erudition

4)   945G       Eusebius of Caesarea                      c. 260-c. 340

 

Eusebius Pa[m]phili de eua[n]gelica preparac[i]o[n]e  ex greco in latinu[m] translatus Incipit feliciter.

 

[ Cologne, Ulrich Zel, not after 1473]                                $18,000

Folio 10 ¾ x 7 ¾ inches. [a]12, [b-o]10, [p  152 of 152 leaves

One of the earliest editions most likely the Second, (editio princeps : Venice 1470) This copy is bound in new quarter calf over original wooden boards. Capitals supplied in Red and Blue.

This copy contains the fifteen books of the “Praeparatio evangelica,” whose purpose is “to justify the Christian in rejecting the religion and philosphy of the Greeks in favor of that of the Hebrews, and then to justify him in not observing the Jewish manner of life […] “ The following summary of its contents is taken from Mr. Gifford’s introduction to his translation of the “Praeparitio:

 

“The first three books discuss the threefold system of Pagan Theology: Mythical, Allegorical, and Political.  The next three, IV-VI, give an account of the chief oracles, of the worship of demons, and of the various opinions of Greek Philosophers on the doctrines of Fate and Free Will.  Books VII-IX give reasons for preferring the religion of the Hebrews founded chiefly on the testimony of various authors to the excellency of their Scriptures and the truth of their history.  In Books X-XII Eusebius argues that the Greeks had borrowed from the older theology and philosphy of the Hebrews, dwelling especially on the supposed dependence of Plato upon Moses.  In the the last three books, the comparson of Moses with Plato is continued, and the mutual contradictions of other Greek Philosphers, especially the Peripatetics and Stoics, are exposed and criticized.”

The “Praeparitio” is a gigantic feat of erudition, and, according to Harnack (Chronologie, II, p. 120), was, like many of Eusebius’ other works, actually composed during the stress of the persecution.  It ranks, with the Chronicle, second only to the Church History in importance, because of its copious extracts from ancient authors, whose works have perished.” (CE)

It is also very interesting because of its numerous lively fragments from historians and philosophers which are nowhere else preserved

 e.g. a summary of the writings of the Phoenician priest Sanchuniathon, or the account from Diodorus Siculus’ sixth book of Euhemerus’ wondrous voyage to the island of Panchaea, and writings of the neo-Platonist philosopher Atticus.

Eusebius (c. 263-339), Greek historian and exegete, Christian polemicist and scholar Biblical canon, became bishop of Cesarea in 314 and is considered as the father of Church History as his writings are very important for the first three centuries of the Christianity.
Goff E119;BMC I 194.   (United States of America: Boston Public Library
Indiana Univ., The Lilly Library (- 2 ff.)
YUL);

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5) 957G  Richard  Mediavilla [Middleton], d. 1302/3

          Commentum super quartem  Sententarium.

Venice: Christophorus Arnoldus, [circa 1476-7]        $22,000

Folio  12 ¼ 9 ¼ inches. a-z10 [et]10 [cum]10 [per]10 A 10 B-D8 (D8v blank and aa1r blank) aa8 bb10 cc8             [320 of 320 leaves complete.]

Second edition. This copy is rubricated throughout with nicely complicated red initials. It is bound in an age appropriate binding of full calf over wooden boards with clasps and catches with quite impressive end bands.

Richard of Middleton,[Richard de Mediavilla] Franciscan friar, theologian, and philosopher, was born about the middle of the thirteenth century in either England or France. He studied at Paris, where he formed part of the so-called neo-Augustinian movement, defending the philosophy and theology of Augustine against the inroads of Aristotelianism, during the years 1276–87. He probably studied under William of Ware and Matteo d’Acquasparta, usually viewed as principal figures in this movement.

Middleton’s Commentary on Peter Lombard’s ‘Sentences’ was probably begun in 1281 and was completed in 1284, when he became regent master of the Franciscan school in Paris, a post he held until 1287. The chief characteristic of his Commentary is its sober assessment of many of the positions of Thomas Aquinas. However, the tone of his eighty Quodlibet Questions, produced during his regency, is much more critical and on many issues shows a strong anti-Thomist reaction. In this they have more in common with his disputed questions, which were argued after the condemnations of 1277 but before his Sentences commentary. The latter commentary has been edited along with his Quodlibet Questions. A small number of his disputed questions have also been edited, as have six of his sermons. 

Furthermore; nine questions (23 to 31) in this volume form a veritable treatise on demonology, a rare type in the thirteenth century. Mediavilla’s remark is singular: he is the only thinker who gives autonomy of existence to the demon, in the framework of a rational description.

Mediavilla focuses on the present of the devil and its modes of action on men. He is the great thinker of the demonic turn of the 1290s.

This text offers one of the origins of a Western genre, the “novel of Satan”

 

 

 

The questions of volume IV

23. Did the first sin of the angel come from a good principle?
24. Can the angel at the moment of his creation sin?

25 . In the first sin of the angel, was the comparison of the creature anterior, according to the order of nature, to the distancing from God?

26. Was the first sin of the angel pride?

27 . Did the evil angel repent of his pride?

28 . In the evil angels, does sin follow another sin without end?

29. Does the sorrow of the evil angels leave her with a certain joy?

30 . Would the evil angels not be?

31 . Can bad angels play our sensations?

Middleton’s link to the neo-Augustinian movement is seen especially in his treatment of the will, even though he does not entirely follow his teachers, Ware and Acquasparta. For Middleton the will is much more noble than the intellect, since it is much more noble to love God than to understand him. Understanding without the corresponding love separates man from God. However, the key to the will’s nobility is its freedom. The intellect is forced by evidence when evidence is given; the will also is forced by its nature to seek the good, but it is free in choosing the means to its predetermined goal. Even if the intellect were prudent enough to show man the best means to his goal, he would not be forced to adopt them. ‘For although the intellect, like a servant with a lamp, points out the way, the will, like the master, makes the decisions and can go in any direction it pleases’ (Stegmüller, 722).

The superiority of the human will over the intellect further manifests itself in Middleton’s conception of the nature of theology. Certainly, the study of the scriptures attempts to clarify human knowledge of both creator and creatures; principally, however, it aims to stimulate man’s affections. Middleton believes that scripture prescribes laws, forbids, threatens, attracts man through promises, and shows him models of behaviour that he should follow or avoid. The study of scripture perfects the soul, moving it toward the good through fear and love. It is more of a practical science than a speculative endeavour. A theology that is speculative is one that models itself on the theology of the metaphysician or philosopher and tends to reduce Christian faith to reason.

The influence of Aquinas is more in evidence in Middleton’s theory of knowledge. Middleton rejects the illumination theory of Bonaventure and his more loyal followers. Man’s intellectual knowledge can be explained, he argues, by the abstraction performed by the agent intellect from the singulars experienced by the human senses. In short, human individuals know, and they know by means of their own intellectual efforts, not by some special divine illumination. Unlike those who endorse the illumination theory, Middleton contends that there is no direct knowledge of spiritual beings, including God. God is not the first thing known. He can be known only by starting with creatures and by reasoning about their origins or final end. Middleton died in Rheims on 30 March 1302 or 1303.” [Oxford DNB]

Goff M-424; BMC V 206

(The ISTC shows two US copies…St Louis Univ., Pius XII Memorial Library (–) &YUL – i.e. both defective) add UCLA.

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No copy of this Edition in North America

7) 10H Anicius Manlius Torquatus Severinus Boethius 480-525

De Consolatione Philosophiae : Sacti thome de aquino super libris boetii de solatoe philosophie comentum cu expositione feliciter incipit. [fol. 168 recto:] In diui Seuerini Boetij de scolarium disciplina commentarium feliciter incipit.. Add: Pseudo- Boethius: De disciplina scholarium (Comm: pseudo- Thomas Aquinas)

[Lyons: Guillaume Le Roy],1487                         $16,000

Folio 9 ½ X 6 ¾inches.  [ 235 leaves of 238.]  lacking ONLY three blanks: x6, A1, and I8;

a2-8,b-v8 (a1 blank and lacking) x6; A2-8, B-I8. 45 lines of commentary, which surrounds the text, to a page. Ff. 1, 166, 167, 238, blank, are wanting. 235 of 238 leaves.   This copy is bound in modern calf over wooden boards. It is a nice clean copy.

Text surrounded by commentary ascribed to Thomas Aquinas, with a second work attributed to Pseudo-Boethius, De Disciplina Scholarium, with commentary of Pseudo-Aquinas; contemporary annotations, some cropped.

 

 

“Boethius became the connecting link between the logical and metaphysical science of antiquity and the scientific attempts of the Middle Ages. His influence on medieval thought was still greater through his De consolatione philosophiae (written while in prison at Pavia) and the theological writings attributed to him. Whether Boethius was a Christian has been doubted; and it is certain that the Consolatio makes no mention of Christ, and all the comfort it contains it owes to the optimism of the Neoplatonic school and to the stoicism of Seneca. Nevertheless, for a long time the book was read with the greatest reverence by all Christendom, and its author was regarded as a martyr for the true faith” (Schaff-Herzog). GW ascribes the commentary on De consolatione to Thomas Waleys.

In this prosimetrical apocalyptic dialogue, Boethius our narrator encounters Lady-Philosophy , who appears in his time of need, the muse of poetry has in short failed him.  Philosophy dresses among great protest Boethius’ bad interpretations and misunderstandings of fate and free will….

 

One thousand five hundred years later It is still fair to ask, the same questions which Boethius asks..

 

And Philosophy answers:  “The judgment of most people is based not on the merits of a case but on the fortune of its outcome; they think that only things which turn out happily are good.”

 

“You have merely discovered the two-faced nature of this blind goddess [Fortune] … For now she has deserted you, and no man can ever be secure until he has been deserted by Fortune.”

 

“I [Fortune] spin my wheel and find pleasure in raising the low to a high place and lowering those who were on top. Go up, if you like, but only on condition that you will not feel abused when my sport requires your fall.”

 

The colophon has an interesting Acrostic reading 

“CONRADUS”

 

Not in Goff.

H 3402; C 1103 = 1114; Pell 2502 & 2557; CIBN B-576; Hillard 431; Aquilon 149; Arnoult 309; Parguez 229; Péligry 196; Polain(B) 4217; IGI 1827; Kind(Göttingen) 232; Pr 8513A; BMC VIII 238.

 

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8) 998G Bernardus: Basinus 1445-1510

De magicis artibus et magorum maleficiis

( Tractatus exquisitissimus de magicis artibus et ma//gorum maleficiis, per sacre scientie Parisiensem doctorem ma//gistrum Bernardum Basim, canonicum Cesaraugusta//nensem, in suis vesperis compilatus. )

Paris : Antoine Caillaut,1491-1492? (Dated by CIBN: Bibliothèque Nationale. Catalogue des incunables. T. I (Xylographes, A-G);. Paris, 1981-2014. B-182)                  $ 28,000

Quarto.  7 ¾x 5 ¼ inches a8 b6.  14 of 14 leaves. This copy is bound recently in older limp vellum.

Second Edition. First Published in 1483, (Goff B-279 listing four copies)

This treatise on magical practices was based on a speech Basin delivered in Paris before an assembly of cardinals in 1482. Basin was born 1445 in Zaragoza and he received his doctors degree in Paris, having study there theology and canon law.  In nine propositions he explains how people enlist the help of demons and if the practise of such diabolic magic makes a person a heretic.

Basin states that magic arts, such as involving the invocation of demons and pacts must be been prohibited by all laws, civil and canon alike. Hain 2703. The editio princeps was published in 1483 and is extant in 12 copies worldwide. This second edition is more rare and exists in 6 copies worldwide. A corner stone text in the study of witchcraft and inquisition.

Only one copy in the United States of America: (not in Goff) Southern Methodist Univ., Bridwell Library

Not in Goff: Dated by CIBN; Pell(Lyon) 40; Bod-inc B-132; Sheppard 6190; Pr 7967; BSB-Ink B-233; GW 3720 ;  CIBN B-182; Aquilon 89; Parguez 146.

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9) 144JAnicius Manlius Torquatus Severinus  Boethius (480-525)

Pseudo- Boethius: De disciplina scholarium (Comm: pseudo- Thomas Aquinas) 

     [Bound with]

Boetius de consolatione philosophie necnon de disciplina scholariu[m] cum creme[n]to [sic] sancti Thome De consolatione philosophiae(with commentary ascribed in the text to Thomas Aquinas).

Lyon: Jean Du Pré, 3 March 1491/92       $ 9,000

Small Folio 9 1/3 x 61/2 inches.  a-P8 aa6;  A-F8.  [174 of 176 leaves ] (second part lacking two leaves a blank and the title to the Consolation.    In this copy the index is bound before the preliminaries. 2 parts in one volume.  Bound in old limp vellum with hole in the spine, lacking ties. The contents are  lightly toned with scattered foxing and stains or ink blots, early inscriptions on title of Pseudo-Boethius and last page of Boethius.         Thomas Waley (once commonly ascribed to Saint Thomas Aquinas).

For over 1,000 years, The Consolation of Philosophywas the most popular book in Europe next to the Bible. “After Augustine, the first thinker of philosophical note was Boethius “

Goff B796 (one copy Harvard) ; Pell 2531; CIBN B-581; Frasson-Cochet 59; Parguez 232; IBE 1118; IGI 1835; IBPort 383; Mendes 278; Walsh 3779; GW 4554

And This edition also has the Acrostic colophon:

 

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10)  145J    Paulus   Pergulensisca -1451.

Logica magistri Pauli Pergulensis.

Venice:  Johannes Emericus, de Spira, 22 Feb. 1495/96                                $12,500

Quarto.   10 x 8 ½  inches  a-e8, f4  [44 0f 44 leaves (complete) ]

Signature of Thomas Stewart, Knight of St. John of Jerusalem, dated Rome 1837 on title.
Bound in early 19th-century quarter sheep; light dampstaining in lower margins throughout, title and last page soiled.

Italy, the centre of humanism, produced the best logicians of the Renaissance. Paulus Pergulensis (d. 1451) was a pupil of Paul of Venice, author of the Logica magna and parva. The present is a more succinct and highly systematized logic, composed entirely in the form of theses.

From 1420 to 1454 Pergulensis taught logic and natural philosophy, and then also mathematics, astronomy and theology, to the Venetian school of Rialto (founded in 1408 ), to which he gave a real university organization.  He was nominated (1448) bishop of Koper, which he renounced so as not to leave the teaching. We are left of him, manuscripts or press, some treatises of logic ( Dubia in consequentias Strodi , De sensu composite and divided , In regulas insolubilium , De scire et dubitare , Compendium logicae ), in which he discusses the new logical doctrines of the Oxford school in Padua by Paolo Veneto.

Goff P195; H 12626; R 1314; Sander 5476; IBE 4363; IGI 7322; IBPort 1357; Horch(Rio) Suppl 13; Mendes 957; GW M30234

US Copies (Princeton Univ (2) and The Newberry Library)  Not in Copinger or British museum Catalogue of books printed in the XVth century

 

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11)  942G    Michæl (Michaelis Mediolanensis) Carcano ( 1427- 1484)

Sermonarium de poenitentia per adventum et per quadragesimam fratris Michælis Mediolanensis.     

Venice : Georgius Arrivabenus, 28 Sept. 1496                   $9,000

Large Octavo 7 ¼x 5 ½inches.  a-z8 [et]8 [con]8 [rum]8 A-E8 F10.  258 of 258 leaves.

 This copy is bound in bind-tooled pigskin over wooden boards. Highly impressed with blind tool roll stamps of thistles Strawberries and various other flowers. Lacking clasps and catches.

Carcano was one of the greatest Franciscan preachers of the 15th-century.  In this book there are 92 sermons for Advent and Lent, that amount to a systematic treatment of penitence. Carcano’s preaching was much admired by Bernardino da Feltre, who called him ‘alter sanctus apostolus Paulus et Christi Tuba’. He is known for his part in founding the montes pietatis banking system, with Bernardine of Feltre, and for the marked anti-Semitism of his attacks on usury. His sermons were later printed as Sermones quadragesimales fratris Michaelis de Mediolano de decem preceptis (1492). They include arguments in favour of religious art. (see Geraldine A. Johnson, Renaissance Art: A Very Short Introduction (2005), p. 37)

Bernardus: Basinus 1445-1510

The wording of the colophon suggests that the archetype of this edition is that of Nicholas de Frankfordia,1487
Quadragesimale seu sermonarium de penitentia duplicatum per aduentu[m] videlicet & quadragesima[m] a venerabili viro fratre Michaele Mediolanensi ordinis fratrum minorum de obseruantia editum: qui tum sanctimonia vite, tu[m] ferue[n]tissima verbi dei p[re]dicatione a deo inumeris meruit corruscare miraculis felici numine explicitum est. Impressu[m] Venetijs optimaq[ue] castigatione eme[n]datu[m]: per Georgiu[m] de Arriuabenis Ma[n]tuanum. Anno d[omi]ni .M.cccclxxxxvj. die .xxviij. Septembris./

 

Goff C197; H 4507*;; Walsh 2140; BMC V 386  

(HEHL, Harvard, CL,LC,St Bonaventure Univ ,Univ. of Kentucky, Univ. of Minnesota)

 

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12) 174J  Niocola de Orbellis

Eximii doctoris magistri Nicholai de orbellis super sentencias compendium per utile, elegantiora doctoris subtilis dicta summatim complectens.

Rouen : Martin Morin, for Jean Alexandre, 1497             $SOLD

Octavo 6 ½x 4 inches   a-i8 k4 A-E8 a-d48 e-f8 aa-ii8,kk-ss8 tt10, Last blank present and filled with notes and Printers mark on the back. This copy is profusely filled with very small notes.  Printer’s mark on title page (cf. Brunet v.2, p. 363).

Bound in 18th century tree calf, with gilt spine.

Not in Goff,  see O76.

2 copies in the US: St Bonaventure and Johns Hopkins.

Cosentini, F. La Bibliofilia,; 16 (1915), p. 425; Incunabula short title catalogue,; io00077500; GW,; M28154

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14)  203J   Sebastian Brant(1458-1520)

DAS NARRENSCHIFF. {Hie vahet sich an das neü narren schiff vo[n] Narrogonia zu Nutz vnd Heylsamer ler zu vermeyden straffe der narrheyt } 

 

Basel, Johann Bergmann von Olpe, (12 Feb.) 1499.              $44,000

Quarto (213 x 152mm.), 162 leaves (of 164),  a-t8, u v6, lacking two leaves: a1 (title) and a8, quire a defective with some loss of text,  h8 and i1 defective, s1 torn without loss, s6-8 and t1-6 defective, u6 and quire v torn at upper corner, quire v becoming detached, occasional light staining.   With 112 (of 114) large woodcuts with two woodcut borders on each page mostly attributed to Albrecht Dürer and the Haintz Narr Master, a.o. and with elaborate ornamented and historiated woodcut borders on both sides on each page.

Gothic type. 30 lines. Bound in original quarter pigskin over wooden boards, expertly restored, with one original clasp.

First published in German in 1494 this is a milestone in the history of book illustrations with many woodcuts by Albrecht Dürer  printed from the original blocks.

Sebastian Brant’s work is present here in a rare third German edition printed by the original publisher.  This edition adds a so-called ”Protestation” of fourty lines, now often numbered as chapter 113, written to protect Brant against the Unauthorized additions and mutilations of pirated editions, which.  In splendid collaboration with this humanist- printer Johann Bergmann of Olpe, the Basel editions of the “Ship of Fools” have turned out as a “remarkably complete mirror of human life”, based upon the “very universality of Brant’s self-righteous surliness, and the picturesqueness of his metaphors” (Panofsky). The illustrations of human weakness in large woodcuts by the young Dürer and the Haintz Narr Master, a.o. are printed from the original blocks

Its commentary on the boasting, pedantry, false learning, gambling, gluttony, medical folly, adultery, greed, envy, hatred, pride and other failings that mark humanity are sharp and telling, and, sadly, as relevant today as they were 450 years ago.

Before Goethe’s Werther arrived on the scene, this work was the most successful book ever published in Germany, immensely popular and read until it fell to pieces. This is one of literature’s most famous satires and a remarkable illustrated book. Sebastian Brant describes in his “Ship of Fools” the voyage of a ship bearing 100 fools, to the fools’ paradise of Narragonia, and he satirizes all the follies of his time including representatives of every human and social type.

Many of the  woodcuts have been Attributed to Albrecht Dürer.

PMM calls it “the first original work by a German which passed into world literature and helped to blaze the trail that leads from medieval allegory to modern satire, drama and novel of character”.

The reference to the newly discovered America is found on fol. 76 verso (cf. Harrise, BAV, Additions, no. 21).

 

 

 

Complete incunabular editions were issued three times in German by the original printer Bergmann of Olpe with the Dürer woodcuts:

These editions are now unobtainable. Since 1906 most probably only 1 incomplete copy has been recorded in German book auctions.  

In the United States there are only four copies of anyBergmann de Olpe German editions with the Dürer woodcuts.  

: 1494   Goff 1080.  Two copies : 

Morgan Library and Library of Congress (- a1). 3

: 1495 Goff 1082.  One copy: Metropolitan Museum of art.

:1499 not in Goff.   This copy. ( it can be yours!) 

Walter L. Strauss in his catalogue raisonné, Albrecht Durer Woodcuts and Woodblocks, surveys the state of critical dispute about the number of pieces definitely created by Durer and not simply by others trying to imitate his accomplishments. Strauss and Panofsky are the most conservative; Winkler (1928) “who undertook the most thorough examination of the illustrations, concluded that seventy-three are by Durer” and in later editions added 5 more for a grand total of 78 by Durer.

Wolfgang Hutt’s Albrecht Durer 1471 bis 1528: Das gesampte graphische Werk: Druckgraphik (1970), assigns 74 of the woodcuts to Durer; Alain Borer and Cécile Bon’s L’Oeuvre Graphique de Albrecht Durer (1980; identified as “Borer” in the descriptions) prints 78 woodcuts as Durer’s. We follow the new catalogue raisonné of Durer’s woodcuts for books, Rainer Schoch, Matthias Mende, and Anna Scherbaum, Albrecht Dürer: Das Druckgraphische Werk: Band III: Buchillustrationen (Munchen: Prestel, 2004), here referred to as SMS. This work prints and illustrates each of the 78 works Winkler accepted as by Durer. There is also a complete English translation of Brant’s Ship of Fools by Edwin H. Zeydel (NY: Dover, 1944; rpt. 1962);

Sébastien Brant. 500e anniversaire de La Nef des Folz (Basel, 1994), 182-7.

 

GW 5047 (records only 11 copies complete or fragmentary in public libraries, the Bodlian copy in Oxford is imperfect, as well as the Basel UB copy, the only one in Switzerland, see digitalisat);

Not in Goff :  NO US COPIES ; HC 3742; Pr 7782; Hieronymus, Buchillus. 195; Wilhelmi 182; Panofsky, Dürer II, pp. 275-276; Meder p. 275; cf. PMM 37.

Holdings

British LibraryBritish Library (IA.37957)

AustriaWien, ÖNB (Ink 12.H.16)

British Isles Oxford Bodley (imperfect)

FranceStrasbourg BNU (2, 1 imperfect)

GermanyBamberg SB

Berlin KupferstichKab

Berlin SB (copy destroyed)

Dresden SLUB

Schleusingen NaturhistM (Prov GymB)

SwitzerlandBasel UB (imperfect)

Contents:

a2r Brant, Sebastian: Das Narrenschiff. ‘Ein vorred in das Narrenschiff’. Brant, Narrenschiff, ed. Zarncke, 1-4. Sebastian Brant, Das Narrenschiff. Nach der Erstausgabe (Basel 1494) mit den Zusätzen der Ausgaben von 1495 und 1499, ed. Manfred Lemmer, 3rd edn (Tübingen, 1986), 2-6.

a4v Brant, Sebastian: Das Narrenschiff. ‘Von vnnutzen buchern’. Brant, Narrenschiff, ed. Zarncke, 4-114; Brant, Narrenschiff, ed. Lemmer, 6-208.

v2v [First Colophon.]

v3r Brant, Sebastian: Das Narrenschiff. ‘Der wyß man’. Brant, Narrenschiff, ed. Zarncke, 114-15; Brant, Narrenschiff, ed. Lemmer, 208-9.

v4v [Second Colophon.] ‘End des narrenschiffs’. Brant, Narrenschiff, ed. Zarncke, 115; Brant, Narrenschiff, ed. Lemmer, 210.

v5r ‘Register des Narrenschiffs’.cc

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13)   172J [Printed Book of Hours (Use of Rome) In Latin and French]

Ces presentes heures a lusaige de Ro[m]me ont este faictes pour Simon Vostre Libraire domourant a Paris a la rue neuue nostre dame a le enseigne sainct Jehan l’evangeliste.

Paris [Philippe Pigouchet per] Simon Vostre, 16 Sept 1500.              $28,000

Quarto 8 1/4 x 5 1/2 inches.  a-l 8, ; A 8: (A 1-8 lacking).    88 of 96 leaves printed on vellum, lacking the “Sensuiuent les sept pseaulmes en françoys”(not surprisingly  other copies are lacking the final ‘A’ quire) .

 

Initial spaces and spaces for initials within the line. Initials, paragraph marks and line fillers illuminated in gold on alternating red and blue grounds, red-ruled. (Some wear and darkening.) This copy is bound in full 18th century chagrin. It is a beautiful wide margined copy.

The present Horae are illustrated with 22 full-page engravings in the text and numerous and smaller cuts, metalcut historiated and ornamental borders on every page, many with criblé grounds , depicting biblical scenes, the Virtues, the stag hunt, apple harvest and memento mori vignettes depicting including Pigouchet’s Dance of Death series (Claudin II, 53-53)

Pigouchet appears to have introduced the criblé technique, in which the black areas of a woodblock are punched with white dots, giving the page a lively tonality. Philipee Pigouchet’s collaboration with Simon Vostre lasted for over 18 years, during which period the duo produced hundreds of Books of Hours for European readers. The almanac was apparently kept standing in type for use in several Pigouchet edition.

 

Goff H412; C 3106; Bohatta, H. Livres d’Heures;(1924)

730 = 705;

Lacombe 109; Pell Ms 5892 (5878); Castan(Besançon) 554; Adams H1007;

GW 13263  Cambridge UL                                                                                                                                                                                            Oxford Bodley Quebec Laval UL (vell) Besançon BM                                                                                                                                                                     Paris BN

Number of Holding Institutions. 5

                                 )0(

 

“Truth consists of an adequation between the intellect and a thing”

16)        930G  Thomas Aquinas 1225-1274. editor Theodoricus de Susteren.

Summa de veritate celeberrimi doctoris s[an]cti Thome Aquinatis. que olim … me[n]dis scatebat. Nouissime iam per … magistru[m] nostru[m] Theodericum de Susteren co[n]uentus Coloniens[is] fratru[m] predicatoru[m] regentem … laboriose reuisa … feliciter incipit.

 

Cologne : Heinrich Quentell,

7 Mar. 1499             $12,500

Folio.10 ½x 8 inches 2°: A-Z6, Aa-Gg6; {signature Dd signed De}

180 of 180 leaves.  Third Edition, the final 15^th  century edition. Bound in blind-tooled calf including some blind ’title’ on the front board, full calf over wooden  boards.  Clasps missing, but the catch-plates are present. Light foxing, with some red and green ink dots along edges. On this book all edges were striped in Green and red now quite faded.  Front pastedown shows slight signs of water damage.Occasional small red stains on text block (e.g. E3v and Q5), likely from the books’ rubricator, but otherwise a clean text block.rubricated throughout.

 

“Summa de veritate celeberrimi doctoris sancti Thome Aquinatis…”First written around 1256, Thomas Aquinas’ “Disputed Questions on Truth” defends “the view that truth consists of an adequation between the intellect and a thing. Aquinas develops a notion of truth of being (“ontological truth”) along with truth of the intellect (what might be called “logical truth”)” (Wippel, 295)

Subjects: Truth; God’s Knowledge; Ideas; The Divine Word; Providence; Predestination; The Book of Life; The Knowledge of Angels; Communication of Angelic Knowledge; The Mind; The Teacher; Prophecy; Rapture; Faith; Higher and Lower Reason; Synderesis; Conscience; The Knowledge of the First Man in the State of Innocence; Knowledge of the Soul After Death; The Knowledge of Christ; Good; The Tendency to Good and the Will; God’s Will; Free Choice; Sensuality; The Passions of the Soul; Grace; The Justification of Sinners; and The Grace of Christ.  For each topic, Aquinas reviews the topic’s Difficulties, and then responses with ‘To the Contrary’ and ‘Reply’. Aquinas concludes each topic with an “Answers to Difficulties” section, demonstrating his typical insightful worldview and readable literary style.“Everything is a being essentially. But a creature is good not essentially but by participation. Good, therefore, really adds something to being (“Good” [U1v])

translation from   http://dhspriory.org/thomas/QDdeVer21.htm).

Goff T181; (Columbia University, Union Theological Seminary;HEHL; LC ;Massachusetts Historical Society;YUL);  BMC I, 289/90; Only one Copy in The British Isles (BL)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

15) 209J Giovanni Battista Trovamala de Salis

Incipit liber q[ui] Rosella casuum appellatur.

 

Summa casuum conscientiae  (second version, known as Rosella casuum). Add: Sixtus IV: Bulla “Etsi dominici gregis” 30 Dec. 1479. Rubricae iuris civilis et canonici.

Venice: Paganinus de Paganinis, 21 Dec. 1499        $7,500

Large 8vo, π⁴ a¹⁰ aa-zz¹⁶ &&¹⁶ 2[con]¹⁶2[rum]¹⁶ Aa-Cc¹⁶ Dd¹²

 

Leaf pi4 includes the bull “Etsi dominici gregis” Printed register at end does not allow for the first [14] leaves which contain the “Rubrice iuris civilis” and “Summa Angelica.” But they are present.

 

In the fifteenth century, many authors of Summasfor confessors addressed loans and usury, the concept of “Cambium siccum Trovamala” In this book de Salis argues that ‘dry exchange is not usury because of its speculative nature.

 

After the Fourth Lateran council of 1215 a number of manuals of confession appeared. Their purpose was the intellectual preparation of priests for a prudent and informed exercise of the office of confessor. This manual for confessors was completed by Father Battista Trovamala in the convent of Levanto in 1483. Also known as the Summa casuum conscientiae or Summa Baptistiniana, it was first printed by Nicolaus Girardengus in 1484. In 1489 Trovamala made an expanded and revised version, the Rosella Casuum or Summa Rosella, printed first in Pavia in 1489 and then in Venice by Giorgio Arrivabeni in 1489, 1495, and 1499.Early and second octavo edition of this famous manual for confessors, first published in Novi Ligure in 1484 and expanded by the author four years later. Battista Travamala, died 1496, was a Franciscan friar from Salo, in Liguria, from which he took the alternative name de Salis. His most influential work was this Summa casuum, also known as Summa Baptistiana, Rosella casuum or Summa Rosella, completed in 1483 in the convent of Levanto. It encountered immediate success.

 

Goff S50; HC 14186*; CIBN B-70; Parguez 898; Péligry 696; Maignien(Grenoble) 570; Polain(B) 3839; Pr 5178; BMC V 460

 

 

 

IINDEX  of incunables.                               fascicule                                     VII

 

945G        Eusebius 1473 :Goff  E119; BMC I 194.   (Boston Public Library, Indiana )

957G       Mediavilla 1476-7 Goff M 424 BMC V 206. (St Louis Univ., (–),YUL (–) UCLA)

10H         Boethius 1487 Not in Goff. H 3402; (No US copies!)

169J         Diß durchleuchtigist – dy bibel 1483 Goff B632.GW 4303; BMC II, 424 SOLD

998G       Bernardus: Basinus:   1491/2  not in Goff (1 US copy SMU)

144J         Boethius 1491/2 Goff B796 (1 US copy Harvard only) (No UK copy)

145J         Paulus Pergulensis 1495/6 Goff P195 (Princeton Univ. (2) The Newberry Library)

942G       Carcano 1496: Goff C197; (HEH, Harv, CL ,LC ,St Bonaventure ,U of Kentucky, U. of Minn

174J         Orbellius 1497: Not in Goff: IGI 7021;(JHU & SBU)

203J         Brant 1499 Not in Goff; GW 5047 (No US copies!)

172J         Heures a l’usaige de Romme. Ca. 1500 Goff; H412  GW 13263  (No US copies!)

930G        Aquinas 1499: Goff T181. (Columbia, Union Theological ;HEHL; LC ;Ma. Historical; YUL)

209J         Trovamala de Salis 1499: Goff S50 (many US copies)

723G        Raymond, of Sabunde 1502. Adams S-36; VD 16, R 174. (5 us copies)

982G      Marino Becichemo 1506 (U of Illinois only)

756G        Diodorus 1505-1508; Goff D214. GW VII Sp.431a(Har , CL,N.L.M, Williams, YUL)

960G       Nicolaus de Byard 1511 (one copy in Oclc)(No US copies!)

 

Live   ISTC   Link                                              fascicule     XII

 

 

945G       Eusebius 1473:  http://data.cerl.org/istc/ie00119000

 

957G       Mediavilla 1476-7: http://data.cerl.org/istc/im00422800

 

10H        Boethius1 1487; http://data.cerl.org/istc/ib00782500

 

169J         Diß durchleuchtigist … dy bible 1483 Goff B632.GW 4303; BMC II, 424 SOLD

 

998G       Bernardus: Basinus  :  1491/2 : http://data.cerl.org/istc/ib00279500

 

144J         Boethius 1491/2: http://data.cerl.org/istc/ib00796000

 

145J         Paulus   Pergulensis 1495/6 : http://data.cerl.org/istc/ip00195000

 

942G       Carcano 1496 : http://data.cerl.org/istc/ic00197000

 

172J          Heures a l’usaige de Romme.1498 http://data.cerl.org/istc/ih00395000

 

174J          Orbellius 1497  http://data.cerl.org/istc/io00077500  GW M28154

 

930G        Thomas Aquinas  1499 : http://data.cerl.org/istc/it00181000

 

209J         Trovamala de Salis 1499 https://data.cerl.org/istc/is00050000

 

 

End of fascicule XII

 

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