552Ji   Mateusz,; z Krakowa, Cardinal,; approximately 1330-1410.*

(Ars moriendi.) – Speculū artis bene moriēdi de temptatōnibus. penis infernalibus interrogatōibus agonisantium et varijs oratōnibus pro illorum salute faciendis.

 (Köln, Heinrich Quentell, about  1495).                      Price $9,000

Quarto  20 x 5 cm. Signatures: a⁶ b⁴ c⁶  With a nice Accipies woodcut on the title. – There is browning and usage staining, many marginal notes by the rubricator (somewhat truncated), title with ownership notes from the 17th century, upper white edge cut off, short pen note, endpaper with monastic ownership stamp.–Bound with the title below., Two works in one volume each are rubricated,  with numerous notes on every page!  The upper blank margin of the title cut off, monastic stamp to fly leaf.  In the Reginaldetus there is wear and some loss to the headline of last eight leaves. These two works are bound in early if not contemporary limp vellum with green linen ties and green edges. 

The Ars moriendi, or The art of dying, was intended to instruct the reader on the proper modes of behavior when facing death. The book was one result of the Church’s effort to educate the laity in the fundamentals of Christianity during the late medieval period. Gerson’s Opus tripartitum is the source of much of the work, with other material being drawn from the Bible, liturgies, and devotional and doctrinal literature of the period.  

  Ars moriendi is divided into six parts:m a selection of quotations on death from authoritative Christian sources; advice to the dying on how to overcome faithlessness, despair, impatience, pride, worldliness, and other temptations; a series of catechetical questions whose correct answers lead to salvation; instructions and prayers for imitating the dying Christ; practical advice for the dying individual; and, prayers to be said by those attending the dying.

Although the author of Ars moriendi is not known, the book is believed to have been written in Southern Germany at the time of the Council of Constance (1414-1418).    * Sometimes attributed to Matthaeus de Cracovia or to Albertus Magnus (and in Italian editions to Dominicus Capranica, Cardinal of Fermo); cf. A. Madre, Nikolaus von Dinkelsbühl (Beiträge zur Geschichte der Philos. u. Theol. des Mittelalters 40 (1965) p.292-295), and D. Mertens, Iacobus Carthusiensis (Göttingen, 1976) p.181

             http://dlib.gnm.de/item/N40    

https://data.cerl.org/istc/ia01098000

 Goff A1098; HC 14911*; Voull(K) 305; Schr 3671; Schramm VIII p.23; Pell 1339; CIBN A-598; Buffévent 45; Polain(B) 972; IDL 425; IBP 562; SI 372; Sallander 2046; Madsen 352; Šimáková-Vrchotka 171; Günt(L) 781; Voull(B) 1011; Voull(Trier) 697; Ohly-Sack 274; Sack(Freiburg) 306; Döring-Fuchs A-354; Bod-inc A-449; Sheppard 1051; Pr 1425; BMC I 294; BSB-Ink A-766; GW 2610

     Bound with 

552Jii Petrus, Reginaldetus

Speculu[m] finalis retributio[n]is tam bono[rum] operu[m] q[uam] malo[rum]: egregij sacre theologie doctoris: fratris Petri Reginaldeti: de ordine fratru[m] mino[rum]: In quo speculo diffuse elucidat[ur] co[n]templatio pena[rum] et gaudio[rum] eterna…

Basel, Jackob (Wolff) von Pforzheim,   1499              (price above)

Quarto; 20 x 5 cm . Signatures a-k8. 79 of 80 Leaves lacking the final leaf with the printers mark. Third edition of the only work by this Franciscan Friar.   Reginaldette, was from Tours: he was a peritus (an expert (as in theology or canon law) who advises and assists the hierarchy (as in the drafting of schemata) at a Vatican council) at the Council of Basel in 1434 A.D..

The title “Speculum finalis retributionis tam bonorum operum quam malorum” has been added by the translator, but the information is taken from the text which follows. The Totani family is from L’Aquila in Italy, and perhaps it was the memory and example of St. Bernadine of Sienna, who had died there nearly a half century earlier, that prompted Friar Guillermo to preserve this work of Franciscan preaching, which is so characteristic of the reform in the Order of the Friars Minor, which the Saint had promoted.

 II. Goff R-91; BMC III, 778. Walsh 1237; Hain 13774; GW M37420; *; GfT 1008; Pell Ms 10037 (9821); CIBN R-52 Günt(L) 427; Voull(B) 552; Pr 7709; BMC III 778; BSB-Ink R-57. 

United States:

Houghton Library, Columbia University, Burke, Free Library of Philadelphia, La Casa del Libro, Library of Congress, Huntington Library, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Univ. of Kentucky,