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939J Basilius Magnus (c. 330-379) Bruni, Leonardo,( 1369-1444), Brenninger, Martinus Uranius,; active 15th century.

De legendis antiquorum libris, sive De liberalibus studiis (Tr: Leonardus Brunus Aretinus). Ed: Martinus Brenningarius [Ad nepotes suos pulchrum de legendis libris secularibus Leonardi Aretini Ad collucium salutatum praefatio in magni Basilii librum incipit foeliciter]

Ulm: [Johann Zainer the Elder, 1478]. Price $9,600

Quarto 18 x 13.5 cmSignatures a-b⁸ First Latin edition 1470-71, translated by Leonardo Bruni. Rubricated, with one 6-line and twenty 5-line wood-cut initials coloured in blue, pink and yellow incorporating figurative ornaments (plants & animals), Bound in later full laced cased Vellum. and a 1955 purchase code from Theodor Ackermann Antiquarit . Enclosed a receipt of Antiquariat Ackermann, Munich, //the sale of the present copy, dated 13 February 1968.(Ackermann celebrated their Jubiläumskatalog in 1966) and an current export license. This is of great rarity, only 2 copies traceable for us at auctions in the last 50 years.

Basil the Great wrote what we call De legendis libris gentilium (Greek: Πρὸς τοὺς νέους, ὅπως ἂν ἐξ Ἑλληνικῶν ὠφελοῖντο λόγων) in the later fourth century, probably in the 360s–370s, when he was already an established bishop and ascetic leader. De legendis libris gentilium addresses a pressing problem faced by Christian families: how to educate youth within a Greco-Roman school system dominated by pagan poetry, rhetoric, and philosophy. Basil himself had received the highest classical training in Athens, and the treatise reflects his effort to reconcile that formation with Christian ascetic and theological commitments. Rather than rejecting classical literature outright, he argues that pagan authors may be read selectively for their moral exempla and rhetorical discipline, provided that their theological errors are avoided. Secular learning, in Basil’s formulation, prepares the soul for virtue but does not supplant divine revelation. The work thus offered an early and authoritative blueprint for integrating classical education into Christian life—precisely the principle that would make it foundational for Renaissance humanists such as Leonardo Bruni.

Leonardo Bruni’s translation of Basil’s De legendis libris gentilium must be understood as a deliberate intervention in the educational and theological culture of the early fifteenth century. Bruni was not merely recovering Greek texts for stylistic pleasure; he was constructing a defensible intellectual program in which the study of classical literature—the poets, historians, and orators of antiquity—could be presented as morally formative and fully compatible with Christian life. At a moment when the revival of pagan authors still provoked suspicion within ecclesiastical and scholastic circles, Bruni sought authoritative precedents from the Church itself. By translating Basil into a polished, Ciceronian Latin and circulating the text among humanist readers, Bruni effectively embedded the studia humanitatis within an orthodox Christian framework, presenting humanist education not as a rival to theology but as its necessary preparation. As James Hankins has noted, Bruni consistently framed classical learning “not as an end in itself, but as a moral and civic preparation for the highest forms of life,” a principle that finds its most authoritative patristic support in Basil’s De legendis libris gentilium.

Basil the Great was uniquely suited to this role. As a Greek Father of the Church and a foundational theological authority, Basil offered an unimpeachable patristic endorsement of selective engagement with pagan literature. In De legendis, Basil argues that classical texts should be read discerningly, not for their false theology but for their ethical exempla and rhetorical discipline, which train the soul for higher truth. Bruni’s choice of this text allowed humanists to claim that the careful reading of pagan authors was not a Renaissance novelty but a practice sanctioned by early Christianity itself—one exemplified by figures such as Moses and Daniel, who first mastered secular wisdom before attaining divine knowledge. In Bruni’s hands, Basil becomes the bridge between classical culture and Christian doctrine, transforming humanism into a project that could flourish within the Catholic Church rather than in tension with it.

Basil’s treatise addresses a recurring tension in the history of the humanities: how to preserve the study of classical literature while subjecting it to moral and intellectual scrutiny. Writing at a time when pagan texts dominated elite education yet conflicted with Christian doctrine, Basil neither rejected nor romanticized the classics, but subordinated them to higher truth. Classical learning, he argues, refines judgment and trains virtue, yet it remains preparatory rather than ultimate. This hierarchy allowed later readers to defend the humanities not as autonomous cultural capital but as formative discipline directed toward ethical ends. It is precisely this argument that would resonate in the Renaissance and continues to illuminate the enduring question of what the humanities are for.

Basil the Great emerges in Luther’s writings as one of the few patristic authorities he consistently and explicitly invokes, yet always in a carefully delimited role. In works such as De votis monasticis (1521), Basil serves as a witness to an earlier, less corrupted form of monastic life, allowing Luther to contrast evangelical freedom with the binding force of later vows. Likewise, in the Assertio omnium articulorum (1520), Basil appears alongside Augustine as part of a patristic chorus that affirms the primacy of Scripture over ecclesiastical tradition. Across sermons and Table Talk, he is treated broadly as a representative of the Greek Fathers, often viewed more favorably than the scholastic theologians who followed. Yet Luther’s use of Basil is always selective and instrumental: he abstracts him into a figure of the “pure early Church,” deploying him as a supporting witness rather than a controlling authority, subordinated—like all Fathers—to the ultimate judgment of Scripture.

This is early printing by the Ulm pioneer printer Johann Zainer the Elder, our copy with large, gorgeously ornamented initials rubricated in several colours.

Provenance: Enclosed a receipt of Antiquariat Ackermann, Munich, mentioning the sale of the present copy, dated 13 February 1966.( Ackermann celebrated their Jubiläumskatalog in 1965) and an export license Of great rarity, only 2 copies traceable for us at auctions in the last 50 years.

Goff B274; HC 2689*; Amelung, Frühdruck I 31; Pell 1997; CIBN B-179; Coq 69; Zehnacker 375; Voull(B) 2615,10; Bod-inc B-130; Sheppard 1813; Pr 2519; BMC II 525; BSB-Ink B-228; GW 3706. https://data.cerl.org/istc/ib00274000

ISTC records one US Copy: University of Michigan Ann Arbor .

If you would like a closer look, I am always happy to arrange a brief Zoom or FaceTime appointment for a virtual handling of the book.

JAMESGRAY2@ME.COM

Short Link: https://wp.me/p3kzOR-922