935J Petrus Reginaldetus fl/15thc.  and Ficino 1433-1499

Speculu[m] finalis retributio[n]is magistri Petri Reginaldeti ordi[ni] mi[n]oru[m].

            bound with

Marsilii ficini florentini: doctoris in omni disciplinarum genere profundissimi: de christiana religione : aureum opusculum: post omnes impressiones ubiq[ue] locoru[m] excussas: a bene docto theologo adamussim recognitum: cunctisq[ue] mendis expurgatum.

Impressum Uenetijs : [Per] Iacobinu[m] de Pentijs de Leucho impe[n]sis vero Lazari de Soardis,1489

       and 

 [Venice] : summa diligentia per Caesarem arrivabenum venetum, 1518        Price $9,400

Woodcut illustration depicting a Franciscan preacher delivering a sermon to an attentive audience within a simple architectural interior, part of the book 'Speculum finalis retributionis' by Petrus Reginaldetus.

Octavo 15 x 12cm. Signatures:  ad1: π⁸ a⁴ b-p⁸ | ad2 :A-M⁸ (M8 blank) Bound in a contemporary Venetian blind-stamped calf over paste-paper boards, circa 1518.  With a  woodcut title page showing a Franciscan preacher addressing an attentive audience from a pulpit within a simple architectural interior. The scene underscores the book’s function as a sermon-based manual of moral and eschatological instruction, typical of late-medieval devotional printing. Covers decorated with a deeply impressed rectangular panel design, framed by multiple fillets and filled with dense late-Gothic vine and floral tools, a style still current in Venetian workshops in the early sixteenth century. Spine with raised bands and later gilt lettering. The binding is structurally sound, with expected surface wear and darkening from early use. Housed in a modern custom clamshell box, with a glazed window allowing the decorated upper cover to remain visible while fully protected. For Provenance see below.*

A close-up of a vintage book cover, featuring a deeply embossed rectangular panel design filled with intricate late-Gothic vine and floral motifs, bound in a contemporary Venetian blind-stamped calf over paste-paper boards.

The volume brings together two works that stand at a pivotal moment in the transition from late-medieval pastoral theology to early Renaissance Christian humanism. Petrus Reginaldetus’s Speculum finalis retributionis is a classic product of mendicant moral culture: a sermon-oriented compendium focused on the Four Last Things—death, judgment, heaven, and hell. Structured for preaching and exhortation, the text deploys scriptural authorities, atristic citations, and vivid exempla to shape conscience through fear, hope, and moral urgency. Its wide circulation in the late fifteenth century reflects its effectiveness as a practical tool for confessors and preachers tasked with guiding Christian conduct in an age deeply concerned with salvation and final accountability.

A page from a printed book featuring the title and details of Marsilio Ficino's work on Christian religion, with Latin text in ornate typeface against a faded background.

Bound with it is Marsilio Ficino’s De christiana religione, a work that addresses a different but complementary problem: not how Christians should live in view of judgment, but why Christianity itself is intellectually true and defensible. Written by the leading Florentine Platonist, the treatise offers a learned apology for Christianity, harmonizing Christian doctrine with Platonic philosophy and responding to pagan, skeptical, and heterodox challenges. Ficino’s approach is rational, humanist, and synthetic, presenting Christianity as the fulfillment rather than the negation of classical wisdom.

Taken together, the two texts form a coherent and revealing pairing. Reginaldetus represents the late-medieval pastoral tradition, oriented toward discipline, repentance, and preparation for the afterlife; Ficino represents the Renaissance humanist defense of faith, concerned with reason, harmony, and intellectual persuasion. Their union in a single contemporary volume reflects the lived reality of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, when older mendicant modes of moral instruction coexisted with—and were increasingly reframed by—humanist theology. The book thus stands as a material witness to a moment when Christian belief was simultaneously preached from the pulpit and argued in the language of classical philosophy.

A close-up of an intricately bound antique book cover featuring detailed blind-stamped designs and floral motifs, showcasing its rich texture and craftsmanship.

Ad1). Goff R890; ISTC,; ir00089000; BMC 15th cent.,; V, p. 565;HC 13766. 13771. Sander 6393. Ce³ R-89. IBE 4887. IBP 4691. IGI 8312. CRF VI 1722. BSB-Ink R-56. Pr 5580. Collijn: Uppsala 1292. Madsen 3467. Oates 2197. Scardilli-Venezia 247.

U.S. copies: | Austin TX,  (Incun 1498 R263s), The Newberry Library, Princeton Univ, Huntington Library.

Ad2). LC: BT1100; Dewey: 230.01. U.S. copies:| STANFORD,EMORY,INDIANA U, MIDDLEBURY COL.

Page from a 15th-century book featuring a woodcut illustration with a cross above a circular orb labeled 'L.S.' and 'O', surrounded by Latin text detailing printed publication information.
A page from a historical book featuring a printed text in Latin and Greek, discussing Christian doctrine and the title page of Marsilio Ficino's work on Christian religion. The page includes a decorative emblem with a cross over a circle and the letters 'A' and 'G', along with handwritten notes at the bottom.
A close-up view of the spine of an antique bound book, showcasing its brown leather cover, raised bands, and aged texture.
Antique book cover featuring intricate blind-stamped designs on brown calfskin leather, showcasing a rectangular panel surrounded by floral motifs.

Provenance

This book has had a handful of proud owners.

From the library of the Carthusian Charterhouse of Scala Coeli (Vallis Caeli), near Évora, [Established between 1587 and 1598, it was home to Carthusian monks until the 19th-century expulsions, later becoming an agricultural school before restoration.]donated in the early 16th century by its founder Teotónio de Braganza, Archbishop of Évora, as recorded in a contemporary Latin inscription. After the suppression and dispersal of monastic libraries, the volume entered the celebrated collection of José de Salamanca y Mayol, Marquis of Salamanca, and was sold with that library in Guipúzcoa in the spring of 1885. It was then acquired by Cardinal Manuel María de la Barrera y Parra, associated with the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid, who subsequently presented the book to José María de Valdenebro y Cisneros, librarian and Spanish bibliophile. Preserved with Valdenebro’s engraved ex-libris (motto Quo trahor), and later presentation inscription dated 1 January 1901, marking its transmission as a humanistic and bibliographical gift at the opening of the 20th century.

This precious book belonged to the Charterhouse of Scala Coeli, by donation of its founder, the Archbishop of Évora, Don Teotónio of Braganza, as is shown by the note written in the 16th century on the verso of the title page.

Three hundred years later it came to form part of the extremely rich library of the banker Don José Salamanca, which, some years after his death, in the spring of the year 1885, was put up for sale in the province of Guipúzcoa, remaining his property.

There I purchased it together with many others — Cardinal Manuel María de la Barrera y Parra, then in charge of the Prints Section of the National Library — who held it in very high esteem.

Madrid, 23 April 1885.

(Later note)

Which he offers on the first day of the 20th century to his good friend José María de Valdenebro y Cisneros, librarian…

JAMESGRAY@ME.COM