jamesgray2

1. Hieronymus: Vita et transitus (i.e., Eusebius Cremonensis. 1587
2. Augustinus, Aurelius:Meditationes ( Invocatio dei omnipotentis).1498
3. Suso: Horologium aeternae sapientiae. 1500

All three of these important works of guided spirituality are barely represented in North America or world wide.

Lives of church fathers in 1487, printed by Hannibal Foxius. Two North American copies.

658J. Eusebius – Only Two copies in the US

(La vita el transito) Eusebius Cremonensis: Epistola de morte Hieronymi; Aurelius Augustinus, S: Epistola de magnificentiis Hieronymi; Cyrillus: De Miraculis Hieronymi).

[Venice, Hannibal Foxius, 1 June 1487].               $7,000

Octavo 16.7x12cm. Signatures: a–i8. 72 leaves, 36 lines, Roman letter, rubricated with capital letters in red ink. Several annotations in ink and marginal notes, first leaf mounted, 5 leaves, small wormholes touching the letters on the front edge of 4 leaves, 2 intermediate margins reinforced with old paper strips, small worming marks on 4 leaves. – Bound in twentieth century quarter Morocco, with a spine label “Transito di San Gerolamo, Venetia, 1487”

This collection of pseudonymous works are now considered to have been composed anonymously in the thirteenth or fourteenth century by Dominicans in Rome. These Epistles here attributed to threefamous Bishops who were contemporaries of St Jerome Eusebius of Cremona 347-420, Augustine ofHippo 354- 430 and Cyril of Jerusalem 313-386.,

ISTC ih00257000; Goff H257; H8645*; Located Copies ISTC. https://data.cerl.org/istc/ih00257000

GW 9466]. 

 United States:

Walters Library & Huntington Library. ONLY

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Meditationes of Augustine -8 North American copies
9 (pseudo) Authors in one book

601J

Pseudo-Augustine; Saint Augustine 354-430; Bernard of Claravallensis 1090-1153; Peter Damian 1007-1072; Saint Anselm of Canterbury, 1033-1109; Vincent Ferrer 1350-1419; Maffeo Vegio 1407-1458; Pope Pius II,(Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini) 1405-1464,


Medtationes divi Augustini episcopi Hyppoensis Soliloquia eivsden Manuale eidsdem Castigaissime. [a¹]    

   Brescia: Angelus Britannicus de Pallazolo Biblioteca Virtual del Patrimonio Bibliograìfico.  8 Oct. 1498                                                                   $6,500

Octavo, 14 ½x10 Cm. Signatures: π⁴, a-n⁸, o^{10 [colophon]}, l⁸, m¹², p⁸.[o¹⁰,m¹², p⁸are blank and present] Second edition. Bound in later full vellum, a large copy with some deckle edges. Woodcut printer’s device C on leaf o9 verso. For Britannicus’s device C, see BM 15th cent., VII, 972 .  Second edition variations in texts though. Bound in later full vellum, a large copy with some deckle edges. 

Title and list of contents π¹r; Title page,a¹r   1)[Pseudo-] Augustinus [Pseudo- Anselmus; Jean de Fécamp]. Meditationes, caption “Invocatio dei omnipotentis ad morum et vite reparationem”, The invocation of the Almighty God for the reparation of character and life.

      2) a²r-e⁵r; [Pseudo-] Augustinus. Meditationes,

      3) e⁵r-i³r; [Pseudo-] Augustinus. Soliloquia,

      4) i³r-kkv [i.e. l1v],  Manuale including preface, i³r-v; [Pseudo-Bernardus Claravallensis    .               [i.e. Hugo de Sancto Victore]. Meditationes de cognitione humanae conditionis,

      5)  l²r-m⁸v; [Pseudo-] Bernardus Claravallensis. Epistola de perfectione vitae,

      6) n¹r-n²r; Petrus Damiani. Sermo unicus [i.e Institutio monialis, chapt. 6],( De Institutione monialis, which had the aim of safeguarding Western Christians from the decadent uses of the East. Notable in this work, among other things, Damiani, then Bishop of Ostia, condemned Maria Argyre’s use of a golden fork to eat. ‘Forks were a new invention at the time.)

       7) n²v-n³r; Anselmus Cantuariensis. Meditatio de redemptione generis humani, 

       8) n³v-n⁷r; Anselmus Cantuariensis. Orationes ad sanctam Mariam virginem, 

       9) n⁷r-o⁷v; Father N. Laudensis [Maphae⁹us Vegius? Jacobus Arrigoni Laudensis?]. [Verse], incipit “Mens mea q[ui]d cogitas? Quid tantis / ceca procellis / Sponte tuam credis mox peritura ratem?”, “My mind, what are you thinking? Why are you so blind / blind to the storm / Do you automatically believe that your rate will soon perish?”

       10-18) o⁸r :8, elegiac distichs,; Pius II, Pont. Max. In laudem divi Augustini, o⁸r-v; Maphaeus Vegius. Epigramma in laudem Monicae, o⁸v-o⁹v; colophon, ov; printer’s device, o⁹v; Vincentius Ferrerius. De vita spirituali [also known as De interiori homine formativus], 

       19) ²l1r-²m11v; 

20) p¹r-p⁷v. [Pseudo-] Bernardus Claravallensis. Sermo de passione domini.

Pseudo-Augustine; Saint Augustine 354-430. [Pseudo- Anselmus; Jean de Fécamp] ; Jean de Fécamp (early 11th century – 22 February 1079) :Writing under the name of famous writers, he wrote the very popular book Meditations of St. Augustine and the book Meditations. He was born near Ravenna and died at Fécamp Normandy, as the Abbot of the Abbey of Fécamp. He was nicknamed ‘Jeannelin’ or ‘Little John’ on account of his diminutive stature. “The fact that John’s work almost entirely circulated under pseudonyms during the medieval period, including Ambrose, Augustine, John Cassian, Alcuin, Anselm and Bernard of Clairvaux, means that it was only in the 20th century that a greater understanding of his own thought was developed. It is only therefore in recent times that it has been acknowledged that until the spread of the Imitation of Christ at the end of the Middle Ages he was one of the most widely read spiritual writers.” “John wrote a first book of prayers, his Confessio Theologica (Theological Confession), in three parts, composed before 1018. This book was then rearranged and reworked to form a second book, Libellus de scripturis et verbis patrum (The Little Book of Writings and Words of the Fathers for the Use especially of Those who are Lovers of the Contemplative Life). This second work, circulating under the title of The Meditations of Saint Augustine, proved very popular in the later medieval period.”

Bernard of Claravallensis1090-1153; [Pseudo-Bernardus Claravallensis  [i.e. Hugo de Sancto Victore]. 

Peter Damian 1007-1072; Dante placed him in one of the highest circles of Paradiso as a great predecessor of Francis of Assisi. 

 Saint Anselm of Canterbury, 1033-1109;

 Vincent Ferrer 1350-1419; 

Maffeo Vegio 1407-1458; 

Pope Pius II,(Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini) 1405-1464,

Located Copies ISTC. https://data.cerl.org/istc/ia01294000

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

London, British Library (IA.31165) (Incomplete. Wanting the first, unsigned quire with title and table, and quire p with the Sermo de passione domini)

Cambridge, University Library

United States of America

The Walters Art Museum Library

Collection of the late Phyllis and John Gordan, New York NY

Free Library of Philadelphia, 

Pennsylvania State Univ.

Huntington Library

Stanford Univ. Library

The Newberry Library

Yale University, Beinecke Library

Goff A1294; HC(Add) 1951; IGI 1013;Sajó-Soltész 406; IBE 126; IBPort 35; Madsen 442;SchmittII2828,15;Hubay(Eichstätt)110;Oates2628;Pr6998;BMCVII980;BSB- Ink L-136; GW 2972 (Pseudo-Augustinus)

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Henry Suso: Mystic to Women and Servent to Eternal Wisdom

A rare and wonderful copy!

Two worldwide Holdings: Germany:: Wuppertal StB & Russia:: Moscow, [Russian State Library] Rossijskaja Gosudarstvennaja Biblioteka (Berlin copy). Number of holding institutions 2. 

573J  Henricus Suso. (1295-1366)

 Horologium aeternae sapientiae.

573J  Henricus Suso. (1295-1366)

 Horologium aeternae sapientiae.

Cologne: Johann Landen, December 1500/1501. PRICE $15,000

Octavo, 13.4 x 10cm. Signatures A-Q⁸. In this copy there are lombard initials in red and blue, one with dog-head decoration, red capital strokes, paragraph marks, and underlining. 

A Woodcut appears three times, on title, title verso, and verso of final leaf (margin of f. 2 slightly extended, occasional damp stains at gutter and edges, a few leaves in gathering O stained and one with short closed tear). Bound in modern vellum with manuscript antiphonal leaf reused as pastedowns. 

No copies of this edition are recorded at auction by ABPC or RBH.

 VD16 S 6103; ISTC is00876500; Goldschmidt p. 135. See Ford BPH 177 (first edition) and 178 (fourth edition). [APA citation. McMahon, A. (1910). Blessed Henry Suso. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved April 27, 2022 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07238c.htm%5D

https://data.cerl.org/istc/is00876500

Holdings: GermanyWuppertal StB & Russia Moscow, [Russian State Library] Rossijskaja Gosudarstvennaja Biblioteka (Berlin copy). Number of holding institutions 2. 

Last Edit2016-07-13 12:00:00.00.

The German Mystics of the fourteenth century, Meister Eckhart, Johannes Tauler and Heinrich Suso, seemed to be constantly Willing the ability of Unwillingness. Perhaps Eckhart is the most profoundly speculatively blunt so much so that he was accused of heresy and brought up before the local Franciscan-led Inquisition, and tried as a heretic but died before a verdict. Tauler intern provides neo-platonic richness and logic to this position. Suso’s is to explore the territory through emotion. Suso’s first books , Büchlein der Wahrheit(Little Book of Truth) and Das Büchlein der ewigen Weisheit(The Little Book of Eternal Wisdom) were written in German and structured as instructions and explanations for Beginners as well as a defense and adaptation of Eckharts spiritual views. 

Eckhart tells us : “Be willing to be a beginner every single morning”

Likewise Suso writes of himself in his Autobiography “The inward impulse, which he had received 8from God, urged him to turn away entirely from every thing which might be a hindrance to him. The tempter met this with the suggestion:—Bethink thee better. ” (First printed Cologne A.D. 1535.) Suso proceeds to expose the interior to the elements and deals with in good spirit.  The Clock of Eternal Wisdom, exhibits not only faith but trust in the unknown, Like Walter Hilton before him, and Thomas à Kempis after him, Suso dwells poetically and thoughtfully on the frustrations and disappointments as well as spiritualising ways of dealing with them by servitude to that which is beyond perception.

Suso Belongs in the Higherarchy of Great books 

of internal spiritual quest along with 

Boethius, Dante and à Kempis

VD16 S 6103; ISTC is00876500; Goldschmidt p. 135. See Ford BPH 177 (first edition) and 178 (fourth edition). [APA citation. McMahon, A. (1910). Blessed Henry Suso. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved April 27, 2022 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/ cathen/07238c.htm%5D

https://data.cerl.org/istc/is00876500

Holdings: GermanyWuppertal StB & RussiaMoscow, [Russian State Library] Rossijskaja Gosudarstvennaja Biblioteka (Berlin copy). Number of holding institutions 2.

Suso, Henricus: 
Horologium aeternae sapientiae

ISTC No.is00876500

Reference works: C 3171a; GfT 424; Voull(K) 1113; GW M44600

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