2). 563J Thomas Aquinas

Quaestiones circa confessionem seu Sacramentum poenitentiae.

 [Rome : Johann Besicken, about 1493-94].  Collijn assigns this to Guldinbeck.                          $12,800

Octavo 19 x 13.5 cm Signatures : a⁸ Fol. 8 blank and present. Old bibliographies assigned this to Plannck, later revised to Besicken. 

VERY RARE ISTC cites only 9 copies; 1 in the US at Yale.

Besicken worked at Basel in 1483, and at Rome from 1493 until 1510, partly with various partners. Most of the woodcut capitals employed by Besicken and his partners are black ground capitals some with foliage decorations and others with branch-work; all enclosed in a frame line which form squares in the corners. The present incunable has such an example on a1. His imprints are generally rare.

Reference works.  Goff T325; R 395; Mich 341; IBE 1729; IGI 3151; IBP 1681; SI 3781; Coll(S) 1410; Martín Abad T-106; Borm 810; GW 7350

https://data.cerl.org/istc/it00325000

]3[

3) 565J.  Phillipus  Beroaldus.

Declamatio lepidissima ebriosi scortatoris aleatoris de uitiositate disceptantium

Impressum Bononiæ a Benedicto Hectoris diligenter & emẽdate,1499                  Price $15,000

Quarto 20 x 10 cm  Signatures: a-b⁸ c⁴.

Imprint from colophon, which reads in full: Impressum Bononiae a Benedicto Hectoris Diligenter & eme[n]date Anno Salutis Milesimo undequingentesimo. Illus[trissimo] Io[hannes] Ben[tivolio] Reipu[blicae] Bononiensis habenas feliciter modera[n]te./ 

The Initial spaces with printed guide letters; ha large Lombard initials supplied in red.  printed marginalia.  Printer’s device and register on final leaf. 

This book is a Facetious declamation, dedicated to Sigismond Gossinger, canon of Breslau. It features a drunkard, a debauchee and a gambler arguing over who among them is the most vicious and will be deprived of the paternal inheritance.

4131Proctor did not distinguish between Goff B471 and B472

Reference works. Goff B471; H 2965*; Klebs 184.1; Pell 2220; CIBN B-344; Lefèvre 86; Parguez 173; Polain(B) 618; IBE 971; IGI 1589; IBP 960; SI 685; Sajó-Soltész 590; Sallander 1621; Madsen 648; Šimáková-Vrchotka 315, 316; Martín Abad B-103; Hubay(Augsburg) 347; Hubay(Eichstätt) 174; Sack(Freiburg) 593; Borm 426; Oates 2501; Rhodes(Oxford Colleges) 333; Bod-inc B-222; Sheppard 5398; Pr 6644; BSB-Ink B-370; GW 4130

∞§∞

4

The first medieval theologian to develop a systematic treatise on Free will,

the Virtues, and the Natural law.

4) 561J   Guillermus Altissodorensis, or

, c.1150-1231 (sometimes also called William of Beauvai)

Summa aurea in quattuor libros sententiarum :  a subtilissimo doctore Magistro Guillermo altissiodore[n]si edita. quam nuper amendis q[uam]plurimis doctissimus sacre theologie professor magister Guillermus de quercu diligenti admodum castigatione emendauit ac tabulam huic pernecessariam edidit 

Impressa est Parisiis: Maxima Philippi Pigoucheti cura impensis vero Nicolai vaultier et Durandi gerlier alme vniuersitatis Parisiensis librariorum iuratorum, 3 Apr. 1500.                                $25,000

Folio 28 x20 cm. Signatures a–z &,ç⁸ A–M⁸N¹⁰AB⁶C⁸.

First edition. Large woodcut device (Davies 82) on title, Durand Gerlier’s woodcut device (Davies 119) within 4-part border at end. Gothic types, double column. There are old manuscript marginalia.  Bound in contemporary calf over wooden boards.Four Gold illuminated Initials!

First edition  of the major work by William of Auxerre. In this commentary on Peter Lombard, William treats creation, natural law, the nature of man, a tripartite God, usury, end the Last Judgment, among other topics. He applies the critical reasoning of classical philosophy to that of scholastic philosophy.  He was an Archdeacon of Beauvais before becoming a professor of theology at the university in Paris. 

William of Auxerre’s  Summa Aurea, contains an ample disquisition on usury and the natural law basis of economic matters. His Summa Aurea still shows a debt to Peter Lombard, yet it advances his ontological argument, furthermore it shows inovation and an intellectual awareness and insistence on the physical that had not been seen earlier. The “Summa Aurea”, which is not, as it is sometimes described, a mere compendium of the “Books of Sentences” by Peter the Lombard. 

  Both in method and in content it shows a considerable amount of originality, although, like all the Summæ of the early thirteenth century, it is influenced by the manner and method of the Lombard. it discusses many problems neglected by the Lombard and passes over others. It is divided into four books:     The One and True God (bk. 1); creation, angels, and man (bk. 2); Christ and the virtues (bk. 3); Sacraments and the four last things (bk. 4). The Summa aurea had extraordinary influence on contemporary authors, such as Alexander of Hales and Hugh of Saint–Cher, and on later scholastics, such as St. Albertus Magnus, St. Thomas Aquinas, and St. Bonaventure.     The teacher by whom William was most profoundly influenced was Praepositinus, or Prevostin, of Cremona, Chancellor of the University of Paris from 1206 to 1209.  

The names of teacher and pupil are mentioned in the same sentence by St. Thomas: Haec est opinio Praepositini et Autissiodorensis (in I Sent., XV, q. 11). William was, in turn, the teacher of the Dominican, John of Treviso, one of the first theologians 

of the Order of Preachers. The importance of the “Summa Aurea” is enhanced by the fact that it was one of the first Summæ composed after the introduction of the metaphysical and physical treatises of Aristotle. 

William of Auxerre, is considered the first medieval writer to develop a systematic treatise on free will and the natural law.  Probably a student of the Parisian canon and humanist Richard of St. Victor, William became a Master in theology and later an administrator at the University of Paris. After a long career at the university, he was commissioned in 1230 to serve as French envoy to Pope Gregory IX to advise Gregory on dissension at the university. William pleaded the cause of the students against the complaints of King Louis IX.

In 1231 William was appointed by Gregory to a three-member council to censor the works of Aristotle included in the university curriculum to make them conform sufficiently to Christian teaching. Contrary to the papal legate Robert of Courçon and other conservatives, who in 1210 condemned Aristotle’s Physics and Metaphysics as corruptive of Christian faith, William saw no intrinsic reason to avoid the rational analysis of Christian revelation. Confident of William’s orthodoxy, Gregory urged the King to restore him to the university faculty so that he and Godfrey of Poitiers might reorganize the plan of studies. William fell ill and died before any of these projects were begu

William’s emphasis on philosophy as a tool for Christian theology is evidenced by his critique of Plato’s doctrine of a demiurge, or cosmic intelligence, and by his treatment of the theory of knowledge as a means for distinguishing between God and creation. He also analyzed certain moral questions, including the problem of human choice and the nature of virtue. His fame rests largely on the Summa aurea, written between 1215 and 1220 and published many times (Paris, n.d.; 1500; 1518; Venice 1591). Inspired by the Sentences of peter lombard, 

Preceding as he did the Aristotelian revival, William was largely influenced by St. Augustine, St. Anselm of Canterbury, Richard and Hugh of saint–victor, and Avicenna.. (J. Ribaillier, ed., Magistri Guillelmi Altissiodorensis Summa aurea, 7 vols. (Paris 1980–1987). Gilson, History of Christian Philosophy in the Middle Ages (New York 1955) 656–657. P. Glorieux, Répertoire des maîtres en théologie de Paris au XIIIe siècle (Paris 1933–34); C. Ottaviano, Guglielmo d’Auxerre …: La vita, le opere, il pensiero (Rome 1929). r. m. martineau, “Le Plan de la Summa aurea de Guillaume d’Auxerre,” Études et recherches d’Ottawa 1 (1937) 79–114

Goff G718; ISTC: ig00707500; Hain-Copinger 8324; BMC. VIII.122;  GW 11861; Polain B1787; Oates 3078; IGI Fabritius, Bibl. Latina, ed. 1754, III/p. 139). S.T.C. French Books, p. 213.  Us copies: Astrik L. Gabriel, Notre Dame IN, Boston Public, Bryn Mawr, Columbia, Huntington, Univ.of Chicago, Univ. of Wisconsin. |(also see my fascicule XIX, 2019: #1 for another copy of this edition now in private ownership)   

)5(

3). 566J  Robertus Holcot.

[Super sapientiam Salomonis] Opus preclarissimum eximij d[omi]ni magistri roperti holkot sacre theologie moralissimi at[que] doctissimi p[ro]fessoris ordinis fratru[m] p[rae]dicator[um] sup[er] sapie[n]tia[m] salomonis  qua[m] philo disertissimus collegit .. Jncipit feliciter.

Speier: Per me Petrum Drach ciuem Spiren[sem] impressu[m], 26 Feb. 1483.    Price $18,000 { Anno incarnat[i]o[n]is dominice Millesimo quadringentesimooctogesimotercio.}

Folio. 30 x 21 1/2 cmhh.  Signatutres: [*10 **8] A10 B–Z a–c8 d6 e–q8 r s6 t8.   {Lacking  Blank *¹ Blank and *⁹ and two text leaves Q ⁴⁺⁵} (leaves 1, 19 and 350 blanks) This copy is bound in original red sheep over wooden boards with eight bosses and remains of clasps and catches. It is quite am impressive original binding. There is a woodcut printer’s device of Peter Drach (22 x 32 mm) on leaf t7v: “an early variation of Schöffer’s double shield suspended on a branch. Obviously, the dragon on the left shield is a play on the printer’s name. The meaning of the tree standing on a triple mound, with two stars, is unknown.”–M. Harman, Printer’s and publisher’s devices in incunabula in the University of Illinois Library, no. 40.

This is a work on the Proverbs of Solomon which claims to be by Robert Holcot or Thomas Waleys is most likely spurious.  The attribute English Dominican Robert Holkot (or Holcot, c.1290-1349) philosopher and biblical exegete, professor of theology at Oxford and a follower of William of Ockham s scholasticism. There are many works certainly authored by Holcot which have similar enough subject and treatment of those subject to make the inclusion of this work into Holcot’ds authentic works understandable. Holcot stands out among his contemporaries who were among the first generation to have developed their philosophical/theological positions after the influence of William Ockham. Because of this Holcot is often understood and considered in relation to a few categories of thinkers including -Agnosticism, Skepticism (in the Ockhamian sense) and Convenantism.

Where might be the source of wisdom? A heretical question almost.

The Supra sapientiam Salomonis consists of over 100 lectiones which situationalizes the concept of Wisdom itself as a specific theological loci imposing Scholastic method informed by Ocham’s scepticism. What is interesting is that this treatment of Solomon’s proverbs throw a different light on Holcot’s understanding of the relation of and reason than the traditional charge of scepticism . These included the Meaning of wisdom, its acquisition (source) as well as why princes and magistrates should study to achieve it through piety and philosophy. It is this peculiar emphasis which sets Holcot’s work apart from his contemporaries.

This commentary on the Book of Wisdom (Lectiones super librum Sapientiae), has been identified as a prime literary source for Chaucer’s Nun’s Priest’s Tale.

Holkot made original use of his biblical, patristic and classical sources including Seneca and Lucan. He used anecdotes and fables on Greek gods and mythological figures drawn, for instance, from Ovid s Metamorphoses .