I. 466J Balthasar de Porta (fl. 1487-1499)
Expositio Canonis Missae.
(Canon sacratissime misse: unacum expositione eiusdem: ubi in primis premittit pulchra contemplatio ante missam habenda de christi pulcritudine. Et quo mo[d]o ipsa in sua passione: ab eo o[mn]ino fuerat ablata. Qualiterque quilibet celebrans debeat esse dispositius incipit foeliciter.)
[Leipzig : Gregorius Böttiger (aka Werman), about 1495. Price: $16,000
Chancery half-sheet Quarto: 18.5 x12.5 cm. Signatures: aa-dd6, 24 of 24 leaves. Editio princeps, text in gothic letter, including a set of large caps, large woodcut initial and display face on title page, long list in a contemporary hand beneath printed title; This copy is bound in antique parchment .
Balthasar de Porta’s Canon Missae, also contains the the proposal of the Exposition of the Eucharist before the celebration of mass . This commentary on the Mass, has verses taken from the Jesuida of Hieronymus de Vallibus, which are used in the appropriate context to illustrate or emphasize the author’s meaning. We know very few facts about the life of Balthasar de Porta , a Cistercian monk who served as Provisor at the order’s College (Saint Bernard) at Leipzig until about 1499. In the same years, he also published another work about Mass, the Expositio mysteriorum missae (Leipzig: Kacheloven, 1494) and a work on the heretical Bohemian Brethren, Conclusiones contra quorundam Bohemorum errores (Lepzig: Böttiger, about 1494), in which Balthasar refutes specific “errors” of the Hussite beliefs. Balthasar de Porta was Provisor of the Cistercian College of St. Bernhard in Leipzig (fl. 1487-1499).
Goff B39; H 2345*; GfT GfT: Gesellschaft für Typenkunde des XV. Jahrhunderts. Veröffentlichungen. 33 parts. Leipzig [etc], 1907-39. 521, 522; Pell 1753; BSB-Ink B-25; GW 3216; ISTC ib00039000.
US copies: Huntington Library (2), Southern Methodist Univ, Yale University https://data.cerl.org/istc/ib00039000
II. Two Incunabula bound together Signed by the Rubricator.
444Ja. Guillermus Parisiensis; (1297?-1312?)
444Jb. Johannes; de Turrecremata, (1388-1468)
444Ja Guillermus Parisiensis.
U]ITAM BONAM ET EXITUM Beatum | Ego Frater Guilhermus sacre Theologie Profes | sor minimus parisius educat[um]. Sacroru[m] euangelio|rum ac epistolariu[m] de te[m]pore dieb[us] dominicus et sa[n] | ctis. Etiam super cômune Apostolo[rum] Martirum. confossorum. | virginum. Et pro defunctis Exposiciones in vnu[m] colligere v | olume mius expertis clericis.
f 178v: Incipit “Postilla sup[er] evangelia• et primo domicalia (sed(icit) sensum litteralem Juxta concord antai;s evangelstarum ”
Vienne (France) Eberhard Frommolt (not before 1480) (Price next to the imprint below)
Chancery folio : 26.8 x 18 cm. Signatures: [a–x⁸ y-z⁶]. 178 of 180 (wanting blanks leaves) Both titles bound together in later full calf over wooden boards. Many initials supplied in red and capitals stroked in a very singular way.
An extremely rare edition, printed at the second press at Vienne. Thirteen Books are assigned to Eberhard Frommolt.
“The Postilla of Guillermus Parisiensis,” Gutenberg-Jahrbuch 1959, p. 73).
“More than one hundred editions of the Postilla super epistolas et evangelia by Guillermus Parisiensis were printed during the fifteenth century. Surely this esteemed compilation must be regarded as one of the earliest ‘best sellers’, for how else can one explain why the text was not only frequently reprinted but was reissued time and time again by the same printer…Only a few facts seem to be known about Frater Guillermus. The introduction to the Postilla, his only published work, tells us that he was a Dominican and a professor of sacred theology at Paris. This compilation of the Postilla was written down in 1437 expressly for members of the clergy and for those desirous of understanding the excerpts from the Epistles and the Evangelists, more commonly called lessons, which are read at appropriate services throughout the church year. It obviously filled a most pressing need” (Goff, “G-JB 1959, p. 73).
Total Worldwide holdings: of this Frommolt Guillermus Parisiensis;
France:
1)Beaune BM,
2)Besançon BM,
3)Colmar BM
United States:
4) Brown Univ.
Number of institutions 4 https://data.cerl.org/istc/ig00654800
GW 11926; Copinger 2861. GW 11926. ISTC ig00654800. Pellechet 5641. Castan(Besançon): Castan, Auguste. Catalogue des incunables de la Bibliothèque Publique de Besançon. 1893. #530 .
BOUND WITH
444Jb. Johannes; de Turrecremata, (1388-1468) and Nicolas De Byard
Quaestiones Evangeliorum de tempore et de sanctis. – Nicolas De Byard (fl. c.1300).
[Dictionarius pauperum:] Flos theologiae sive Summa de abstinentia. ; 2 parts in 1 volume.Quaestiones Evangeliorum de tempore et de sanctis
[Basel: Johann Amerbach, [ A copy at Frankfurt am Main has rubricator’s date of 28 Sept. 1481] Price: $35,000
Chancery folio : 26.8 x 18 cm. Signatures: <110 28 310 4–58> A–K10.8 L10 M12 [8] a–v10.8 x6.
Turrecremata, cardinal, was born at Valladolid in 1388, and at an early age joined the Do- minican order, early distinguishing himself for learning and devotion. In 1415 he accompanied the general of his order to the council of Constance, whence he proceeded to Paris for study, and took his doctor’s degree in 1423. After teaching for some time in Paris, he became prior of the Dominican house first in Valladolid and then in Toledo. In 1431 Pope Eugenius IV. called him to Rome and made him “magister sancti palatii.” At the council of Basel he was one of the ablest and most prominent supporters of the view of the Roman curia, and he was rewarded with a cardinal’s hat in 1439. He died in 1468. (EB)
Nicolaus of Byards [Dictionarius pauperum:] Flos theologiae sive Summa de abstinentia. is an encyclopedia of Christian philosophy, for the use of preachers, arranged alphabetically from “De abstinentia” to “De vita eterna.” From the 1480s on,
this was a popular collection ,yet the attribution to de Byart is tentative. In this book we find the admonition that just as robbers easily have the treasure after they have broken the chest, so the devil has the soul after he has confused a man and stolen his patience, because “the heart of a fool is like a broken vessel, no wisdom at all shall it hold.” It has only recently been attributed to the late fifteenth-century German Augustinian Nicolaus de Byard (cf. Bloomfield, et al., Incipits of Latin works on the virtues and vices, no. 1841).
https://data.cerl.org/istc/it00553000
ISTC it00553000; Goff T553 ; BMC III 747; BSB‑Ink T‑568;GW M48236 ; HC 15714* ; Pell Ms 11270; Polain(B) 3869 ; IDL 4519 ; IBE 5680 ; IGI 9889 ; Sheppard 2414 ; Pr 7566.
III .238J Peregrinus of Opole (1305-12, 1322-27) Jacobus de Voragine (1229-1298) & Nicolaus de Dinkelsbuel (1360-1433)
Peregrinus: Sermones de tempore et de sanctis. Add: Jacobus de Voragine: Quadragesimale. Nicolaus de Dinkelsbuel: Concordantia in passionem dominicam.
Est autem huius operis ordo talis. Primo ponuntur sermones d[omi]nicales de tempore per anni circulu[m]. Secundo de sanctis, Tercio q[ua]dragesimale Jacobi de Foragine, Q[ua]rto concordantia quatuor euangelista[rum] in passiiones d[omi]nicam a magistro Nicolao Dinckelspubell collectam.”/ At end of leaf m8: “Sermones Peregrini de tempore finiunt.
[Ulm: Johann Zainer, not after 1479] Price: $11,000.
(A copy now in Munich BSB has an ownership inscription dated 1479)
Folio 27 x 20 cm. “Pars I (188): a-d8, e-k8/6, l-m8, A-C8, D-I8/6, K-N8; (N8 blank and removed) “Pars II (50.): a-f8/6, g8;” 3.”Pars III (40.): A-E8/ [276 (instead of 278) The two blank leaves (162 & 188) are missing. Rubricated throughout. Bound in contemporary calf over wooden boards, with catches and clasp restored. Rebacked with the spine restored using old material, cover covers rubbed and with small missing parts).
I have located only two U.S. copies both defective. This Copy also has very interesting Provenance.
¶ Peregrinus of Opole, was a Silesian Dominican friar, Prior in Wrocław and Racibórz and Provincial of the Polish-East German Order Province.
He was twice elected a provincial of his Order and became designated an inquisitor of Wrocław by the pope John XXII. His major literary achievement is this twofold collection of Latin sermons: Sermones de tempore (sermons on the feasts of the liturgical year) and Sermones de sanctis (sermons on feasts of particular saints).
Jacobus de Voragine wrote several series of sermons, the Lenten sermons (Quadragesimale) were written between 1277 and 1286. These sermons were only slightly less popular than his “Legend,” and also known as ‘Golden’ on account of their popularity (there are more than 300 known manuscript copies).
The genre of the Sermones quadragesimale did not exist as a distinct genre before the 1260’s This Dominican best-seller author Jacopo da Voragine, and the works of preachers from his own generation, like Peregrinus von Opeln [See above] have a strong sermo modernus structure and contain numerous exempla drawn from the world of nature.
¶Nicolaus de Dinkelsbuel. Magister in 1390, BUT The ascription of the Concordantia to Nicolaus de Dinkelsbühl (c 1360-1433) is mistaken. Although he is known as the author of a passion story .( Collecta et praedicata de passione Christi. 1472). He did not produce a concordance to it, but he is in fact listed as one of the authors cited in the work. (See A Madre, Nicolaus de Dinkelsbühl, Leben und Schriften, 1965, p 310.)
Only two North American copies, both defective.
1) Harvard University (- ff 189- 278)
2) Bryn Mawr College, (ff 239-278)
Goff P267; ISTC ip00267000.
HC 12581*; C 4407; IGI 7404; IBP 4241; Madsen 3083; Voull(B) 2629,5; Hubay(Augsburg) 1582; Hubay(Eichstätt) 794; Borm 2059; Walsh 909; Rhodes(Oxford Colleges) 1340; BMC II 529; BSB-Ink P-183; GW M30917 – Wegener, Zainer 9 – BSB-Ink P-183 – Proctor 2542.
IV
438J Ripelin, Hugo 1205-1270 (formerly ascribed to Albertus Magnus)
IV438J Ripelin, 1478. https://data.cerl.org/istc/ia00233000
Compendium theologicae veritatis [with table by Thomas Dorniberg]
Ulm: Johann Zainer, ca. 1478-80). [not after 1480]
[CIBN dates this as not after 1480 from the date of rubrication in Württemberg LB copy (cf. Amelung, Frühdruck)] furthermore a copy in the Klemm collection, at Leipzig has a rubricator’s date: “1481” Imprint from incipit on leaf [2r] which reads: Theoloyce veritatis co[m]pendium alphabetico ordine registratum ac in regali opido vlma per Joa[n]nem zainer impressum feliciter incipit. Price: $24,000
Folio: 26 x 19 cm. unsigned [a8, b6, c-t8, u6, x6.]. 162 leaves. 40 lines, single column, headlines. Gothic type (type: 4:96G, 5:136G). Each Signature is guarded by vellum from a reused manuscript. Many initials rubricated in red,(excepting most of book two?) capitals accented in red, and section titles underlined in red.
This copy is bound in original red doe skin over beveled wooden boards, decoratively stamped in blind with alternating floral and fleur-de-lis pattern, remnants of original clasps, old paper label on spine, boards and spine heavily rubbed and worn, chip out of top corner of rear board, lower corner worn, spine ends chipped.
¶ There is an old catalogue slip\description on front paste-down quoting a Katalogle description from “T. (sic. Jacques) Rosenthal “ Buch-und Kunstantiquariat katalogle 18: 1898 number 244; [which dates this edition at 1468] ¶ Most likely typed by WR Siegart who received this book from Dr. Grimm. More interesting, on the front pastedown there is an ownership note by Jacob Hartlieb active 1493-1513. There is a note on the free endpaper which a is a reference, noting a page number in a book by Jakob Wimpheling of Schlestadt, (1450-1528.) licentiate of theology, on the lives of the bishops of Strasbourg, [specifically] in the life of Henry of Germany, the one-time(?) (looks like olim) 65th (?) bishop, writes on folio 42: Then follows Wimpheling’s passage. By the way, this Henry has got to be: Henri de Geroldseck active (1263–1273). Wimpheling notes that he was bishop in 1265.
¶ Wimpheling co-authored a book with Hartlieb. De fide co[n]cubinaru[m] in sacerdotes. Questio accessoria causa ioci et vrbanitatis in q[uo]dlibeto Heydelburge[n]si determinata, quibusda[m] nouis addito[n]ibus denuo illustrata. Jte[m] Questio minus principalis, de eisde[m] facetie causa, p[er] magistru[m] Jacobu[m] Hartlieb determi[n]ata . Ach lieue els. biß myr holt.
Therefor it is not unreasonable to think that both Hartlieb and Wimpheling were friends/coleagues.
On the front past-down is later ownership evidence, an armorial book-plate of German doctor and incunabula collector Ferdinand Herscher (15??-1646) book-plate of Theological Seminary Library, Gettysburg, PA. There are two paper fragments in two different hands laid in at front. lengthy early description in ink on recto of front blank; title in ink at head of first printed leaf; Small scattered worming; damp staining at fore-edge of first 14 leaves; minor dampstaining at bottom edge.
Johann Zainer (d. ca. 1523) was the second printer based in Ulm. Among others, he is remembered for printing the first German translation of Boccaccio’s “De claris mulieribus” in 1473. Only 1.4% of ISTC recorded editions were printed in Ulm.
The “Compendium theologicae” has a long history of being misattributed to an array of authors such as Albert Magnus, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas Dorinberg, and Bonaventure, among others, but is now more certainly considered to be by Hugo Ripelin The Compendium most probably, if not certainly, was written by Hugh of Stasburg. Other works attributed to him are: “Commentarium in IV libros sententiarum”; “Quodlibeta, quaestiones, disputationes et variae in divinos libros explanationes”. , a Dominican theologian from Strasbourg. Thomas Dorinberg, who complied the edition of 1473 with an index, was for a long time looked upon as the author; others attributed it to Thomas Aquinas.
Among other theologians to whom it was ascribed are Hugh of Saint Cher, Alexander of Hales, Aureolus, the Oxford Dominican Thomas of Sutton, Peter of Tarantasia and others. Apart from the works of Thomas Aquinas, the “Compendium” was the most widely read work of Dominican theology, being used as a textbook for close to 400 years. The Compendium is indeed a monumental achievement. It is notable for its superb organization, its concise exposition of an amplitude of topics and of supporting rationales. It is also, for the most part, written in clear Latin, making it more easily accessible to clergy who may not have been as fluent in Latin as were the monks.
The Compendium is divided into seven books, each having its own set of themes, as
indicated by these books’ titles:
(1) On the Nature of the Deity;
(2) On the Works of the Creator;
(3) The Corrupting Effect of Sin;
(4) On the Humanity o f Christ;
(5) Sanctifying-Effect of Graces;
(6 The Efficacy of Sacraments;
(7) On the Last Times and on the Punishments of Those Who are Evil and Rewards of Those Who are Good.
Each of the books is sub-divided into a series of specific issues the development of which is meant to give guidance to preachers and to students of theology. The fact that these issues are so central to Christian belief helps to explain why there survive in 59 printed editions.
ISTC ia00233000: Goff A233; H 438*; Amelung, Frühdruck I 36; Bod-inc A-105; GW 599; BSB-Ink H-399; GW 599 WEVENER #6
(Not in BMC);
¶See: Wegener :Die Zainer in Ulm: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Buchdrucks im XV. Jahrhundert and Amelung, Peter. Der Frühdruck im deutschen Südwesten, 1473-1500. Bd. 1 [etc]. Stuttgart, 1979- [in progress]. I 36
https://data.cerl.org/istc/ia00233000
United States: 1) Union Theo. Seminary 2) Cornell Univ. 3)Duke Univ.
V 440J Savonarola, Girolamo, 1452-1498
Jncipit Exposicio v[e]l Meditacio f[rat]ris Hieronimi sauonarole de Ferraria ordi[ni]s p[rae]dicatorum in psalmu[m] Jn te d[omi]ne speraui. qua[m] i[n] vltimis dieb[us] du[m] vite sue fine[m] prestolaretur edidit.
Magdenburg: Moritz Brandis, 1500. Price: $6,600.
Second Edition. Quarto 20 x 15 cm. a4,b4. (8) lvs., rubricated in red, modern boards.[*] – First leaf w. incipit with outer remargined ; a few tiny wormholes throughout (mostly in blank margins). Savonarola writes at the last bit written, a quite heartfelt passage”“BURN away Thy face from my sins, and blot outall tnine iniquities. Wherefore, Lord, regardestThou my sins ? Why numberest Thou them ?Why considerest Thou them so diligently ? KnowestThou not that man is as a flower of the field ? Where-fore lookest Thou not rather on the face of Thy Christ ?Alas, wretch that I am, why see I Thee angry withme ? I confess I have sinned, but do Thou in Thygoodness have mercy upon me : turn away Thy facefrom my sins. Thy face is Thy knowledge ; turnaway therefore Thy knowledge from my sins. I meannot that knowledge which consists in simple appre-hension, wherewith Thou seest all things at all times,but the knowledge which consists in approval and disapproval, whereby Thou dost approve the actions of the just, and by disapproving dost condemn the sins of the wicked. Take not such knowledge of my sins as to impute them to me ; but turn away Thy face from my sins, that through Thy mercy they may be blotted out. Regard, Lord, the soul which Thou hastcreated, regard Thy likeness which Thou hast formed. For Thou didst create it in Thine image, and I poorwretch have overlaid it with the likeness of the devil.” (Translated by Perowne.)
Under torture Savonarola confessed to having invented his prophecies and visions, then recanted, then confessed again. In his prison cell in the tower of the government palace he composed meditations on Psalms 51 and 31. On the morning of 23 May 1498, Savonarola and two other friars were led out into the main square where, before a tribunal of high clerics and government officials, they were condemned as heretics and schismatics, and sentenced to die forthwith. Stripped of their Dominican garments in ritual degradation, they mounted the scaffold in their thin white shirts. Each on a separate gallows, they were hanged, while fires were ignited below them to consume their bodies. To prevent devotees from searching for relics, their ashes were carted away and scattered in the Arno. Scapecchi, P. Cat. Savonarola,; 87 (Catalogo delle edizioni di Girolamo Savonarola (secc. XV-XVI) possedute dalla Biblioteca nazionale centrale di Firenze) Girolamo Savonarola, Prison Meditations on Psalms 51 and 31 Tr., Ed. John Patrick Donnelly S.J. (Milwaukee, Marquette University Press, 1994).
Hieronymus Savonarola (1452-1498) In te Domine speravi. The Dominican preacher wrote this text while in prison in Florence in 1498, charged with heresy, and having been found guilty was burned at the stake in that year. He was a Catholic and a critic of the luxurious lives of the rulers, the Medici family, of the Florentian people and the corruption in the Catholic Church. His sermons resulted in the downfall of the ruling Medici family. Pope Alexander VI excommunicated him.IMG_5919.jpeg “ Savonarola , after his first ” examination ” nearly amonth of quiet in the little prison , which, after all, was notless spacious or comfortable than his cell. This resting timethe victim employed in a manner befitting his characterand life. He wrote two meditations , one on the Miserere(5 1st Psalm) and the other on the 31 st Psalm, in which hepoured out his whole heart in communion with God. Withthe right hand which had been spared to him in diabolicalmercy that he might be able to sign the false papers whichwere intended to cover him with ignominy, he still had itin his power to leave a record of that intercourse with hisheavenly Master in which his stricken soul found strengthand comfort. Between the miserable lies of the notary Ceccone,over which those Florentine nobles in the palace werewrangling ; and the stillness of the little prison hung highin air over their heads, where a great soul in noble trustyet sadness approached its Maker, what a difference!”.
Goff (suppl.); S-206a; BMC 15th cent.; II 601; GW M40482 ; Hain-Copinger; 14412; Reichling; 1384; Audin de Rians, E. Bib.,; 138; ISTC No.is00206500. https://data.cerl.org/istc/is00206500 United Kingdom British Library (IA.10973) United States of America. Yale add ??? US,TX SMU. Item #804
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