276J.  Jean Gerson 

Incipit tractatulus venerabil[is] m[a]g[ist]ri Johannis Gerson cancellarij Parisiensis tractans de polluc[i]o[n]e nocturna an impediat celebrantem an non

[Cologne : Johann Guldenschaff, about 1480]                       SOLD

All incunable editions are undated and unsigned by their printers.  ISTC locates 15  incunable editions of this practical text which testifies to a real demand. Yet the fact that they are all printed anonymously might make one wonder.

Gerson wrote this treaties around 1412, In Brian Patrick McGuire’s Biography of Gerson [Jean Gerson and the Last Medieval Reformation .Pennsylvania State University Press 2005]  he discusses at length this “important commentary on his (Gerson)attitude to the body and its functions” 

Gerson commences the Pollutione Nocturna with a personal statement.

“I have frequently and for a long time been in doubt, especially after I was ordained priest, if someone who was polluted by a nighttime dream should refrain from celebrating Mass…..”

Gerson has “to speak in an impure way” to address this Subject but he proceeds in his usual orderly fashion ,with 10 ‘considerationes’  McGuire Describes it thus: “Gerson’s familiar manner, starting out with free will and choice, as well as the individual’s worthiness to celebrated the Mass, and ending with Detailed instructions on how to cope with bond functions.    …  He asks when it is that a person gives consent. In other words: when semen flowers in sleep to what extent can the individual be considered responsible?”

The fifth considerations tells us:

“No form of pollution that is begun and completed in sleep is a mortal sin”

The psychology and biology which Gerson exposes here is quite interesting.

Quarto 8 x 6  Inches unsigned [a-b8].(the first leaf blank and present)        This copy is bound in 19th century boards. The type seems quite archaic and has a roundish face and is called “lettre de somme” for a book from 1480. It is very similar to Zel’s type, (see the image below).

Here is a list of the 15 editions, our copy is number 6.

1. Gerson, Johannes: De pollutione nocturna. Add: Forma absolutionis sacramentalis. — [Cologne : Ulrich Zel, about 1466]. — 4°
   Bibliographical References: Goff G254; HC 7694* = H 7666; Klebs 459.1; Voull(K) 476; Pell 5219; Polain(B) 1632; IDL 1963; Sajó-Soltész 1418; Voull(B) 678; Schüling 385; Finger 427; Oates 281; Pr 800; BMC I 179; BSB-Ink G-159; GW 10808
   ISTC ig00254000

   

   
   2) Gerson, Johannes: De pollutione nocturna. — [Cologne : Ulrich Zel, about 1467]. — 4° Bibliographical References: Goff G255; H 7697 = 7704 (I); Klebs 459.2; Voull(K) 477; Pell 5212; Delisle 820; Polain(B) 1627; IDL 1964; IGI 4257; Voull(B) 678,2; Schlechter-Ries 739; Ohly-Sack 1225; Finger 428; Oates 290; Bod-inc G-122; Sheppard 608; Pr 806; BMC I 180; GW 10809 ISTC ig00255000

2. 

3. 3) Gerson, Johannes: De pollutione nocturna. — [Cologne : Printer of Dares (Johannes Solidi (Schilling), not after 1472]. — 4° The Basel UB copy has a rubricator’s date 1472. — Bibliographical References: Goff G257; H 7693*; Klebs 459.5; Voull(K) 480; Pell 5215; Arnoult 688; Castan(Besançon) 489, 490; IDL 1967; Sotheby’s (London), 1 July 1994 (Donaueschingen) 183 ; Günt(L) 580; Voull(B) 750; Voull(Trier) 417; Kind(Göttingen) 2138; Rhodes(Oxford Colleges) 839; Pr 995; BMC I 213; BSB-Ink G-162; GW 10812. ISTC ig00257000
   4) Gerson, Johannes: De pollutione nocturna. Add: Henricus de Hassia (the Younger?): Regulae ad cognoscendum differentiam inter peccatum mortale et veniale et Septem signa amoris Dei. — [Esslingen : Conrad Fyner, 1473?]. — 4°
   Bibliographical References: Goff G259; H 7699* (incl H 8400*); Klebs 459.6; Pell 5216; Zehnacker 973; Delisle 821; Sajó-Soltész 1420; Šimáková-Vrchotka 806; Ohly-Sack 1226; Sack(Freiburg) 1559; Hubay(Augsburg) 897; Voull(B) 1143; Walsh 929; Pr 2470; BMC II 512; BSB-Ink G-163; GW 10815. ISTC ig00259000
   5) Gerson, Johannes: De pollutione nocturna. — [Paris : Ulrich Gering, Martin Crantz and Michael Friburger, about 1474]. — 4° Bibliographical References: C 2692; Klebs 459.7; Pell 5217; Arnoult 689; Buffévent 220; Frasson-Cochet 136; Torchet 385; Castan(Besançon) 492; Polain(B) 1630; Martín Abad G-40; Schlechter-Ries 741; Borm 1142; Rhodes(Oxford Colleges) 840; GW 10813 (I) ISTC ig00259400
   6) Gerson, Johannes: De pollutione nocturna. — [Cologne : Johann Guldenschaff, about 1480]. — 4°
   Bibliographical References: Goff G260; C 2691; Klebs 459.8; Voull(K) 481; Polain(B) 1629; IDL 1968; SI 1650; Madsen 1722; Sallander 1734; Voull(B) 905,4; Voull(Trier) 584; Hubay(Augsburg) 898; Sack(Freiburg) 1560; Kind(Göttingen) 2139; GW 10816
   ISTC ig00260000

7) Gerson, Johannes: De pollutione nocturna. — [Speyer : Johann and Conrad Hist, about 1485]. — 4°. Reprinted from Gering’s undated Paris editions, Pell 5217 and Pell 5144? (BMC). — Bibliographical References: H 7698*; Pell 5220; Péligry 375; IBP 2388; Engel-Stalla col 1657; Schlechter-Ries 740; Voull(B) 2055; Sack(Freiburg) 1561; Pr 2403A; BMC II 502; BSB-Ink G-164; GW 10817. ISTC ig00261500
8) Gerson, Johannes: De pollutione nocturna. De cognitione castitatis et de pollutionibus diurnis. Add: Forma absolutionis sacramentalis. — [Cologne : Ludwig von Renchen, about 1488]. — 4° GW dates this about 1485. — Bibliographical References: Goff G262; H 7701*; Klebs 461.4; Voull(K) 482; Pell 5218 (I); Aquilon 318; Zehnacker 961; IBP 2390; SI 1652; Sallander 1735; Šimáková-Vrchotka 807; Sack(Freiburg) 1562, 1563; Günt(L) 822; Kind(Göttingen) 2140; Schullian 211; Walsh 425; Pr 1275; BMC I 268; BSB-Ink G-165; Döring-Fuchs G-71; GW 10818 ISTC ig00262000
9) Gerson, Johannes: De pollutione nocturna. De cognitione castitatis et de pollutionibus diurnis. — [Rouen : Guillaume Le Talleur, about 1490]. — 4°
Bibliographical References: Goff G263; H 7703; C 2693; GfT 2270; Klebs 461.3; Verdier(Talleur) XIX; Pell 5221; Castan(Besançon) 493; IBE 2654; IGI 4258; Pr 8789; BMC VIII 392; GW 10821 ISTC ig00263000
10) Gerson, Johannes: Tractatus diversi: De praeparatione ad missam, De pollutione nocturna. De pollutione diurna. De modo vivendi omnium fidelium. Opus tripartitum. Donatus moralisatus. — [Antwerp : Mathias van der Goes, about 1491]. — 4°
Bibliographical References: C 2707 + 2698; Camp 818 (quires i-m) + 821 (quires a-h); ILC 1092; Inv Ant 91; Polain(B) 1640; IDL 1953; Bod-inc G-134; Sheppard 7203; Pr 9429; GW 10839 ISTC ig00273700
11) Gerson, Johannes: De pollutione nocturna. — [Cologne : Ulrich Zel, about 1467-72]. — 4°
Bibliographical References: Goff G256; H 7696*; Klebs 459.3; Voull(K) 478; Pell 5213; Arnoult 687; IDL 1966; Sajó-Soltész 1419; Borm 1140; Voull(B) 679; Voull(Trier) 333; Hubay(Augsburg) 896; Oates 321; Bod-inc G-123; Sheppard 629; Pr 837; BMC I 184; BSB-Ink G-160; GW 10810 ISTC ig00256000
12) Gerson, Johannes: De pollutione nocturna. — [Cologne : Ulrich Zel, about 1472]. — 4°
Dated by Goff about 1472. — Polain dates about 1470. — Bibliographical References: Goff G258; H 7695*; Klebs 459.4; Voull(K) 479; Pell 5214; Zehnacker 972; Polain(B) 1628; IDL 1965; IBPort 769; SI 1649; Kotvan 529; Coll(U) 596; Madsen 1723; Sack(Freiburg) 1558; Finger 429, 430; Borm 1141; Schüling 386; Ernst(Hildesheim) I,I 202; Voull(B) 680; Günt(L) 916; Pad-Ink 274, 275; Oates 373; Pr 872; BMC I 190; BSB-Ink G-161; GW 10811
ISTC ig00258000
13) Gerson, Johannes: De pollutione nocturna. De cognitione castitatis et de pollutionibus diurnis. — [Poland (Chelmno?) : Printer of Leo Papa, ‘Sermones’, about 1474-75]. — 4°
On the location of this printing-house in Poland see E. Szandorowska, in Quaerendo 2 (1972), pp.162-172. The press was previously assigned to the Netherlands (GW) and tentatively to Cologne (V. Scholderer, in BSA 54 (1960) pp.111-13, reprinted in Fifty Essays (Amsterdam, 1966) pp.279-80). — Bibliographical References: Camp-Kron 811a; IBP 2387; SI 1651; Louda 754; Coll(S) 452; Oates 3669; GW 10814 ISTC ig00259500
14) Gerson, Johannes: De pollutione nocturna. De cognitione castitatis et de pollutionibus diurnis. Add: Forma absolutionis sacramentalis. — [Louvain : Johannes de Westfalia, about 1484-87]. — 4° Reproductions of the watermarks found in the paper used in this edition are provided by the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, National Library of the Netherlands. –– Bibliographical References: Goff G261; HC 7702; Klebs 461.2; Camp 812; ILC 1091; Polain(B) 1631; IDL 1969; IBP 2389; Rhodes(Oxford Colleges) 841; BMC IX 153; GW 10819 ISTC ig00261000
15) Gerson, Johannes: De pollutione nocturna. De cognitione castitatis et de pollutionibus diurnis. — [Paris : Pierre Levet, between 1488 and 1490]. — 4°
Bibliographical References: Klebs 461.5; Pell 5222; Parguez 465; Polain(B) 1633; Arnoult 690; GW 10820 ISTC ig00262500