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1498, 1686, 1718. Each contain the Meditations, Soliloquia, and Manuall

The contents of these three volumes from three different centuries all contain the three ‘core’ pseudo-Augustine texts ,the two latin editions have texts by Pseudo-Bernardus, Petrus Damiani, Anselm of Canterbury, N. Laudensis, Pius II, Papst,  Maphaeus Vegius,Vincentius Ferrerius,Pseudo-Bernardus. The English edition has just the Meditations, the Soliloquia, and the Manuall.

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601J.     Pseudo-Augustine; Saint Augustine (354-430); [Jean de Fécamp (1078).]

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

Libellus Meditationum

¶ Hec sunt que in hoc opusculo continentur. ¶ Meditationes diui Augustini episcopi hypponensis ¶ Soliloquia eiusdem ¶ Manuale eiusdem ¶ Castigatissime. ….

Brescia: Angelus Britannicus de Pallazolo Biblioteca Virtual del Patrimonio Bibliograìfico. 8 Oct. 1498 Price : $ 7,500

Octavo 14 x 10 cm. Signatures: π⁴, a-n8, o¹⁰, l⁸, m¹², p⁸. With all 4 blanks as in the collation, colophon on o^9.   This is the third edition of these texts, the first with the additional authors by Masellus Beneventanus (ƒl 1470) This copy is bound in later but old 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.

The contents are :

Pseudo Augustine:
“Meditationes”. a²r- e⁵r:
Soliloquia: e⁵v-i³r
Manuale (Ausg. c).i³r – l¹v:
Pseudo-Bernardus:
Meditationes. l²r-m⁸v . De perfectione vitae.n¹r- n²v:
Petrus Damiani: Sermo. -n²r- n³v:
Anselm of Canterbury: Meditationes. n³v-o⁸r:
N. Laudensis: Carmina.o8r Pius II, Papst: In laudem divi Augustini. — o⁸v: Maphaeus Vegius: Epigramma in laudem Monicae. o⁸-o¹⁰v
Vincentius Ferrerius: De vita spirituali. l¹—m¹¹v
Pseudo-Bernardus: Sermo de passione domini, p¹rp⁷v

This is a collection of eleven devotional texts, circulated under authorial pseudonyms during the medieval period most of which are of apocryphal authorship and were collected in the eleventh/thirteenth century.   This 1498 example was assembled or compiled by Masellus Beneventanus (fl. 1470).

IN Pseudo-Augustine and Religious Controversy in Early Modern England Julia D. Staykova writes that : 

“we need to bear in mind that it was the product of a culture whose models of authorship vary significantly from our own. The apocryphal Meditations, Soliloquies and Manual illustrate an evolution of textual practices that separates our own perception of the author as a singular and authentic agent from medieval authorship by participation in a multi-centennial collective of contributors. Essentially, Pseudo-Augustine is the product of an age that valued continuity and promoted innovation by establishing ties with it with authority”   

Often attributed to Jean de Fécamp (early 11th century – 22 February 1079) :who wrote under the name of famous writers, his most popular book was the  Meditations of St. Augustine . He was born near Ravenna and died at Fécamp Normandy, where he was 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 Attributed to , 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. “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, also proved very popular in the later medieval period.

Located Copies

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). and  Cambridge, University . 

  USA:

The Walters Art Museum Library,  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

https://data.cerl.org/istc/ia01294000

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454G   Saint Augustine,  354-430 Jean de Fécamp (early 11th century).  Floyd, John. (1572 – 15 September 1649) 

The meditations, soliloquia, and manuall of the glorious doctour S. Augustine. Newly translated into English. 

London; Printed for Mathew Turner,1686               Price $1,800 

Duodecimo, 14 x 7.5  Cm. Signatures: A-T¹² Second Edition (enlarged) of this Translation A very nice copy expertly rebacked. Bound in original calf. 

The “Augustine’s Meditations and Manuell”  are not by Augustine at all and early on these texts were atributed to the folowing: Pseudo-Augustine; Saint Augustine 354-430; This text was complied edited or writen by Jean de Fécamp (early 11th century – 22 February 1079). The present English translated by John Floyd who was an English Jesuit, known as a controversialist. He was known both as a preacher and teacher, and was frequently arrested in England. He was born in Cambridgeshire in 1572. After studying in the school of the English Jesuits at Eu, Normandy, he was admitted on 17 March 1588 to the English College, Reims, where he studied humanities and philosophy. Next he went to the English College, Rome, admitted there 9 October 1590, and joined the Society of Jesus on 1 November 1592. On 18 August 1593 Floyd received minor orders at Reims or Douai, and on the 22nd of the same month he was sent back to the English College at Rome with nine companions, where he taught philosophy and theology, and became known as a preacher. In 1609 he became a professed father of the Jesuit order. He worked for a long time on the English mission. Having visited Edward Olscorne in Worcester gaol in 1606, he was detained, and he was unable either by entreaties or bribes to escape Sir John Popham. After a year’s imprisonment he was sent into exile with forty-six other priests, and he spent four years in preaching at St. Omer and composing controversial works. Then he returned to England, where he was often captured, and frequently contrived to pay off the pursuivants. His last years were spent at Leuven, where he was professor of theology. He died suddenly at St. Omer on 15 September 1649. 

Clancy 43; (see)Allison & Rogers #306 DeBacker -Sommervogel Vol. 3 Col.814 Nº8

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620J  Saint Augustine 354-430,  Jean de Fécamp (early 11th century). Henricus Sommalius SJ (1534-1619)

Divi Avrelli Avgvstini Hipponensis episcopi Meditationes, Solioquia & Manuale. Meditations B. Anselmi cum tractatu de humani generis redemptione. D. Bernardi Idiotae viri docti, de amore diunio. Omnia ad mss. exemplaria emendata, & in meliorem ordinem distributa, opera ac studio R.P. Henrici Sommalii Societatu Iesv Theologi. 

Venetiis: Apud Nicholaum Pezzana 1718 Price $800 

Duodecimo, 12 x 6cm. Signatures:A-Q¹²  Bound in contemporary calf gilt spine. The imprint of this book appears to me quite suspicious, and might deserve a bit more research. Most other copies have the original engraved t.p. dated 1691; This copy has been fudged, either in ink or in the plate toward 1718. The engraver of the plate is , the Venetian nun Sister Isabella / Elisabetta Piccini (1644–1734) was the daughter of the Venetian engraver Giacomo Piccini (d. 1669), who trained her in the art of drawing and engraving in the styles of the great masters, particularly Titian and Peter Paul Rubens. In 1666 she entered the Convent of Santa Croce in Venice and took the name Suor (Sister) Isabella. She continued to work as an engraver, accepting numerous commissions from Venetian publishers to illustrate liturgical books, biographies of saints, and prayer manuals. However, as a Franciscan nun dedicated to a life of poverty, she divided her earnings between her convent and her family living in Venice. Her long and productive career ended with her death at the age of ninety.

The artist signed the frontispiece engraving (in translation) “Sour (Sister) Isabella

Henricus Sommalius had been a member of the Societas Jesu since 1551 , and was the first rector of the Jesuit college in Douay. He edited several editions of works by medieval theologians and church fathers. Among them are Albertus Magnus : Paradisus animae siue de virtutibus libellus , Antverpiae, Plantiniana, 1602; Aurelius Augustine : Confessions , Douay, 1608; the pseudo-Augustinian Soliloquium, Mediationes und Manuale, Douay, 1607. He wrote the famous edition of Thomas von Kempen ‘s Opera omnia (a Kempis), first edition in 1600, Antwerpen with Nutius, where the second edition was also published in 1607 and the third in 1615, which as first complete edition applies. [1]Further reprints then in various places, such as the 7th edition in Cologne in 1680, and finally in Cologne in 1759, published by Eusebius Amort , It seems possible that the curent edition of “Augustine’s Meditatios” was printed in 1701 without printer or place or date and then re-issued to accompany the a’Kempis? 

DeBacker’Sommervogel Vol. VII Col.1381 No5.