| |
23.
Platina, Bartholomaeus Sacchi de. (1421-1481)
Vitae Pontificum.
[Treviso: Joannes Rubeus, Vercellensis,
10 February, 1485]
SOLD
Folio, 11.19 x 8.19 in.
Third edition (the first edition printed in Treviso).
a10, b-q8, r6. 135 of 136 leaves; the last blank and missing.
This is a lovely copy, bound in full contemporary very dark
Italian morocco over wooden boards, tooled in blind, and very
well preserved. The original bosses and clasps were very carefully
removed at a relatively early date, which is barely a defect
in that it exposes some lovely tooling that would otherwise
have been obscured. The binding was rebacked long ago, and the
work retains the character of the original. A very early paper
label is pasted on the back board.
The manuscript signature and marginal notes of Hieronymus Quirini,
the Patriarch of Venice (1524-1554) also appear in this copy.
Deckle edges are found throughout. The printing is quite stunning—and
overall the copy is impressive.
This work is the first systematic handbook of Papal history.
Composed by Platina and presented to Sixtus IV in manuscript
form at the end of 1474, the original copy is still held at
the Vatican Library.
“Platina, Italian humanist, theologian, and historian of
the popes was born at Piadean, and died at Rome. After studying
at Mantua, he went to Florence in 1457 to learn Greek from Argyropulos,
and in 1462 migrated to Rome, where he obtained a position at
the Curia in the College of Abbreviators. When Paul II ascended
the throne in 1464, Platina, like many others, lost his position,
and then headed a sharp reaction against the pope. He was arrested
and imprisoned for four months in the Castle of Saint Angelo,
and did not obtain a new office until Sixtus IV appointed him
director of the Vatican Library, a position which he held until
his death. The same pope gave him the incentive for the preparation
of his most important work, his ‘Vitae Pontificum.’”
(Schaff-Herzog)
Goff P-770; BMC VI, 897; Hain 13048*; Polain (B) 3188; Proctor
6498; Oates 2465; not in Walsh. |
|
24. Plato. (428-347 B.C.); Marsilio. (1433-1499),
Trans., comm. Ficino.
Opera [with] Theologia Platonica de animorum
immortalitate.
Venice: Bernardinus de Choris de Cremona and Simon de Luere
for Andreas Torresanus, 13 August, 1491.
Folio, 11.8 x 8.3 in. a4, a-o8, p-q10, r-z8; A-D8, E-F10, G-Z8,
AA-FF8, GG-HH10.
$50,000
This is the second edition (first edition 1484). This work is
bound in eighteenth-century vellum over boards. A few pinhole
wormholes occur in the first few leaves and the final three
leaves. Leaves a1 and HH10 are both backed. The leaves are bright
with good margins. A contemporary owner has supplied glosses
and notes in the margins of some leaves; some of these notes
were shaved at the time of re-binding. The present copy contains
the very rare variant imprint with only Luere’s name in
the colophon. This variant colophon is recorded by Dibdin in
his Bibliotheca Spenceriana and by the BMC and Hain. A Latin
poem by Naldus Nandius Florentinus appears on the recto of the
first leaf.
This is the second printed edition of the works of Plato, translated
by the humanist Marsilio Ficino. Under the patronage of Lorenzo
Di Medici, Ficino founded the Florentine Platonic Academy. Ficino’s
Theologia Platonica (included in this volume), in which he expressed
his profound belief in the complete harmony of Platonism and
Christianity, is one of the central texts for the study of the
Renaissance. He also coined the phrase “Platonic love”
to denote his ideal of friendship and human relations. This
edition also includes Ficino’s Commentarium in Convivium
Platonis, De Amore, written in 1469, and his Compendium on the
Timaeus.
“Plato’s central conception of a universe of ideas,
Perfect Types, of which material objects are imperfect forms,
and his ethical code based on action according to human nature,
developed by education, which represents the authority of the
State, fit in as well with the religious and constitutional
ideas of fifteenth-century Italy as it did with those of the
Byzantine Greeks, by whom Plato was reintroduced to the Western
world."(PMM)
Goff P-772; Polain (B) 3190A; IDL 3715; IGI 7861; BMC V 465;
Harvard 2373-74; PMM 27 |
|
25. Pliny the Elder, Gaius Plinius Secundus.
(23-79)
Prima Pars Pliniani Indicis.
[Bound with]
C. Plynii Secundi Naturae historiarum libri xxxvii : E castigationibus
Hermolai Barbari, quamemendatissime editi. Additus est ad maiorem
studiosorum commoditatem index Ioannis Camertis Minoritani,
quo Plynius ipse totus brevi mora teporis edisci potest.
Venice: Impressum in aedibus Georgii de Reufconibus, January
17, 1520.
[and]
Venice: Sumptibus L. A. de Giunta; impressum in aedibus G. de
Rusconibus, November 1519.
$4,500
Folio, 12 x 8 in.
This edition is based on the seminal Hagenau edition of 1518,
which first incorporated the two part Index Plinianus by Joahnnes
Camers. The index itself appears before the text in our copy.
a-k8, a-z8, &8; A-K8, L6, M8.
The two title pages are printed in red and black, with ornamental
woodcut borders, initial letters and colophons. This copy has
some light dampstaining to the lower right corner. There is
intermittent minor worming some of which has been repaired.
It is otherwise in nice condition, bound in full ninteenth century
light brown sheepskin.
This book is quite rare, OCLC lists only one copy of the index
and three copies world-wide of the Giunta edition of the Naturae
Historiarum.
“All [of Pliny’s] works have been lost, except for
the Naturalis Historia. An atmosphere of excess surrounds the
work. We know that Pliny claims never to have read a book so
bad as not to have any value at all; and Pliny was constantly
reading, taking notes, and indexing. The final result was a
work in thirty-seven books, intended to inventory the total
knowledge possessed by man. The indefatigable Pliny worked his
way through impressive numbers: 34,000 notices, 2,000 volumes
read, from 100 different authors, and 170 dossiers of notes
and preparatory files (‘I have not knowingly omitted any
piece of information, if I have found it anywhere.’).
“Pliny remained popular in the Renaissance. He was one
of the most frequently consulted authorities on many subjects
for Valla and many other humanists; there were at least forty-six
editions of his work by 1550; and he was translated in Italian
by Landino (published in 1501) and into English by Philemon
Holland (1601). But gradually the intense philological work
of humanist scholars on the one hand and the new discoveries
of the scientific revolution on the other began to throw doubt
upon Pliny’s reputation as an infallible authority, and
in the end his reputation could not even be rescued by blaming
the manuscripts. Yet as Pliny has lost his practical value as
a reference handbook for the modern period, he had gained in
historical importance for the information he transmits concerning
ancient art, science, folklore, religion, and material culture.
It is precisely Pliny’s intellectual defects—his bland
indifference to theoretical rigor, his refusal to engage in
systematic analysis and selection—that make him so precious
for modern scholars interested in the ancient world. Unlike
scholars who had greater intelligence, more self-confidence,
or simply more time at their disposal, he preserves everything
and passes it on to us.” (Conte) |
|
26. Priscian Caesariensis. (fl. ca.
500-530); Diomedes. (fl. late 4th c.A.D.)
Habes candide lector in hoc opere prisciani
volume[n] maius cum expositione elegantissima clarissimi philosophi
Ioannis de Aingre Hanes insuper eiusdem volum[n] minus: &
de duodecim carminibus: ac et[iam] de acce[n]tibus: cu[m]
expositione Viri eloque[n]tissimi Danielis Caietani: nu[n]c
primu[m] edita. Habes p[rae]terea de numeris, po[n]deribus,
& me[n]suris, dep[rae]exercitame[n]tis rhetoricae, De
versibus comicis, de declinatio[n]ibus, necnon de situ orbis
: o[mn]ia q[ui]ppe accuratissime emendata.
Venice: Per Philippum Pincium Mantuanum[16 September 1509].
[Bound with]
Diomedis vetustissimi ac diligentissimi
grammatici: emunctum opus : nec non: Phocae. Prisciani Capri
: Agraetij: Donati:Seruij & Sergij: aurea opuscula: diligenti
lima nuper impressa. Joannes Riuius recensuit.
I: Venice: per Ioannem Rubeum & Bernardinum fratres
Vercellenses, Anno Domini. 1511.
$4,500
Two folios bound as one, 12.3 x 8.5 in.
þ6, A-Z8, AA8, BB-CC6, DD-NN8, a-q6.
This copy is bound in later stiff vellum, provided from a
seventeenth-century Gradual. A hand-colored woodcut classroom
scene of Priscian and his students appears on the title page
of the first work. A fine initial in gold and colors appears
on leaf Aii. Several other initials have been highlighted
in red. The large printer’s device on the title page
of the second work, along with several large historiated woodcut
initials, have also been colored by hand. A contemporary owner
has added marginal notes throughout.
Internally, these works are in good overall condition with
minor dampstaining to the upper and lower margins. The dampstaining
in the top margin has resulted in mild discoloration to the
upper corner of the volume and softness to the top corner
of the first and final few leaves. These leaves have been
strengthened. A few pin-prick wormholes penetrate the first
few leaves and the final signatures with no loss. A sixteenth-century
owner has supplied a manuscript index for the Priscian, bound
at the beginning of the volume.
Priscianus Caesariensis, a Latin grammarian, born at Caesarea
in Mauretania, taught grammar at Constantinople. His Commentarii
Grammatici‚ in 18 books, was long a standard text, and
it was the basis of the work of Rabanus Maurus in the Middle
Ages. Other extant writings of Priscian are a textbook on
12 lines of the Aeneid, a treatise on accents, a study of
the meters of Terence, a treatise on symbols of weights and
measures, and a work on the declensions of nouns.
"The Institutiones grammaticae‚ is a systematic
exposition of Latin grammar, divided into eighteen books,
of which the first sixteen deal mainly with sounds, word-formation
and inflexions; the last two, which form from a fourth to
a third of the whole work, deal with syntax. Priscian informs
us in his preface that he has translated into Latin such precepts
of the Greeks Herodian and Apollonius as seemed suitable,
and added to them from Latin grammarians. He has preserved
for us numerous fragments which would otherwise have been
lost, e.g. from Ennius, Pacuvius, Accius, Lucilius, Cato and
Varro. But the authors whom he quotes most frequently are
Virgil, and, next to him, Terence, Cicero, Plautus; then Lucan,
Horace, Juvenal, Sallust, Statius, Ovid, Livy and Persius.
His industry in collecting forms and examples is both great
and methodical. His style is somewhat heavy, but sensible
and clear; it is free, not of course from usages of Late Latin,
but from anything that can be called barbarism.
"Priscian’s three short treatises dedicated to Symmachus
are on weights and measures, the metres of Terence, and some
rhetorical elements (exercises translated from Hermogenes).
He also wrote de nomine, pronomine, et verbo‚ (an abridgment
of part of his Institutiones), and an interesting specimen
of the school teaching of grammar in the shape of complete
parsing by question and answer of the first twelve lines of
the Aeneid (Partitiones xii. versuum Aeneidos principalium‚).
The metre is discussed first, each verse is scanned, and each
word thoroughly and instructively examined. A treatise on
accents is ascribed to Priscian, but is rejected by modern
writers on the ground of matter and language. He also wrote
two poems, not in any way remarkable, viz, a panegyric on
Anastasius in 312 hexameters with a short iambic introduction,
and a faithful translation into 1087 hexameters of Dionysius’s
Periegesis‚ or geographical survey of the world.
"Diomedes, a Latin grammarian who flourished a the end
of the fourth century A.D., is the author of an extant Ars
Grammatica‚ in three books, dedicated to a certain Athanasius.
The third book is most important as containing extracts from
Suetonius‚ De Poetiis. Diomedes wrote about the same
time as Charisius and used the same sources independently.
The works of both grammarians are valuable, but whereas much
of Charisius has been lost, the Ars‚ has come down to
us complete. In book one he treats of the eight parts of speech,
in two, of the elementary ideas of grammar and style, in three,
of quality and meters." (EB)
Also included among the other, shorter grammatical texts in
this volume, is the Ars Minor‚ (octo partibus orationis)
and the De barbarismo‚ of Aelius Donatus, the fourth
century grammarian, teacher of rhetoric, and tutor of St.
Jerome.
I. Adams P-2109; Schweiger V. 2 p. 823; II. Not in Adams or
Schweiger.
|
|
27. Gregory I, the Great, Saint, Pope. (540-640
A.D.);Franciscus de Ast. (a.k.a Astensis, Abbatibus, Asti,
Alvatus, Astensis, Ostensis).
Homilies of Gregory the Great.
[bound with]
The Temporal Sermons of Franciscus de Ast
$38,000
Folio, 8 x 11 in.
There are 275 leaves, arranged as follows: 8 gatherings of
eight leaves, 35 gatherings of six leaves, and a single blank
vellum leaf at the end. The outermost and innermost bifolia
of each gathering are parchment while the internal leaves
are paper. There are a total of 188 paper leaves and 87 of
parchment.
This hand copied medieval manuscript has an interesting assortment
of gothic cursive hands and wonderful sketches in the margins.
The initials are supplied in red and the book is rubricated
throughout. There are pointing fingers inked in red that indicate
certain points of the text. Also some letters with flourishes
and faces appear in the margins. There are some notes in a
contemporary hand in the margins as well.
This book was bequeathed to the medieval library of the New
Church of Delft. There is a partial ownership inscription
on leaf 64, “p[er]tinet[...] et post mortem suam[...]
nove ecclesie In delft, Et quicum invenerit reddat ei pro
amore dei.” The New Church (formerly the Church of St.
Ursula) in the marketplace of Delft is a fourteenth century
building and one of the most important surviving medieval
buildings in The Netherlands. Buried here are the Princes
of Orange as well as Hugo Grotius.
The Postilla of Nicolas de Lyra, a book also from the library
of the New Church was sold at Sotheby’s (December 2,
1986, lot 43). This book was almost identical in size and
format to the manuscript here. It also is constructed in quires
of parchment and paper.
This manuscript contains two texts. The first is the Gospel
commentaries of Gregory the Great which are arranged in forty
homilies. The Venerable Bede lived and wrote approximately
one century after Pope Gregory I. He writes of this sainted
Pope in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People.
Bede notes that Pope Gregory “compiled forty homilies
on the Gospel, which he divided into two volumes.” This
manuscript contains all forty.
The second part of the manuscript is a copy of forty-seven
of the forty-eight Temporal sermons of the fourteenth century
Franciscan, Franciscus de Ast. Little is known about this
man. He “wrote a Quadragesimale, erroneously ascribed
to Richard Middletown and published with the latter’s
works. No author of our acquaintance mentions him, except
Edward Burton in Catholic Encyclopedia. Perhaps Francis Ascoli
is meant, or also Astesanus of Ast, or finally, and the most
likely of all Francis of Abbate, who wrote ‘Postilla
Abbatis super omnia evangelia dominicalia et quadragesimilia’
(Zawart, 287). His sermons on the Temporal are recorded by
Schneyer in twenty-four manuscripts, all in European libraries.
The sermons in this manuscript follow the order printed in
Schneyer except that the twenty-fourth is missing and the
twenty-fifth listed actually comes as number twenty-six in
this manuscript count.
As for Pope Gregory, aside from his homilies, “Gregory
also wrote a notable book, The Pastoral Office, in which he
describes in clear terms the qualities essential in those
who rule the Church, showing how they should live; how they
should carefully instruct all their people; and how they should
always bear in mind their own frailty. He wrote four books
of Dialogues, in which at the request of his deacon Peter,
he included the lives of the saints of Italy to serve as patterns
of holy life for posterity. So whereas in his Commentaries
he showed what virtues are necessary, in describing the miracles
of the saints he made clear the potency of those virtues.
In twenty-two homilies he also revealed the profound teaching
latent in the early and latter parts of the prophet Ezekiel,
which had hitherto remained very obscure. Further, he compiled
a book of answers in reply to the questions of Saint Augustine,
first bishop of the English nation. In conjunction with the
bishops of Italy he also compiled the short Synodical Book,
which deals with the administration of the Church. He also
wrote a large number of personal letters. The extent of his
writings is a source of amazement when one considers that
throughout his youth he was often in agony from gastric pain,
and frequently troubled by a slow fever.” (Bede’s
Ecclesiastical History).
Gregory, the true father of the Medieval papacy, is “certainly
one of the most notable figures in ecclesiastical history.
He has exercised in many respects a momentous influence on
the doctrine, the organization, and the discipline of the
Catholic church. To him we must look for an explanation of
the religious situation of the Middle Ages: indeed, if no
account were taken of his work, the evolution of the form
of Medieval Christianity would be almost inexplicable. And
further, in so far as the modern Catholic system is a legitimate
development of Medieval Catholicism, of this too Gregory may
not unreasonably be termed the Father. Almost all the leading
principles of the later Catholicism are found, at any rate
in germ, in Gregory the Great.” (CE)
|
28. Probus, Marcus Valerius. (fl. ca. 80
A.D.); Bonardi, Giovanni, editor.
De Interpretandis Romanorum litteris.
Venice: Joannes Tacuinus de Tridino, 20 April, 1499 .
Quarto, 7.6 x 4.8 in. a-e4.
SOLD
This copy is bound in full modern vellum. A full-paged woodcut
of a Sibyl beneath an arch with an arcane inscription appears
on the verso of leaf d2. Woodcut white-on-black initials appear
throughout. Occasional light staining, and short wormtrails
to the final two leaves affecting several words on the final
leaf are the other minor defects. There is also a marginal paper
repair to the final leaf.
This is the second edition of the first printed epigraphical
work. The first edition was printed in Brescia in 1486. This
edition includes the De Interpretandis Romanorum litteris by
M. Valerius Probus, the great Vergil scholar and the “most
important philologist of the first century.” Also included
are shorter tracts on Roman names, legal abbreviations, notations
used for weights and dates, the curious inscription from the
“Arch of the Sibyl” (illustrated by a full-paged woodcut)
and a number of inscriptions from various sources, including
some funerary inscriptions. The volume concludes with a short
work translated by Giovanni Aurispa (1376-1459).
Goff P 996; BMC V, 534; Pr 5458; Oates 2120; Walsh 2578; Hain-Copinger-Reichling
13378 |
|
29. Rolewinck, Werner. (1425-1502)
Fasciculus temporum Omnes Antiquorum Cronicas
Complectens.
Strassburg: Jon Pruss, not before 1490.
$9,700
Folio, 11 x 8 in. First printed in 1473.
*5, A8, B-P6. 95 of 98 leaves; lacking the title page and
the first and last blank.
There are numerous woodcut diagrams illustrating genealogical
relationships, scenes of town and cities, including Nineveh
(A8r), Sodom and Gomorah (A8v), Athens (B1r), and Rome (C5r),
Noah’s Ark and the rainbow of the Covenant (A4), the
Tower of Babel (A5), comets (O2v, O3r, P1r, P1v, and P4r),
and monsters (K1r and L4v). This copy is bound in quarter
alum-tawed pigskin over wooden boards. The top board is original
quarter-sawn beech, with two brass catchplates, the clasps
for which have since perished. The rear board is modern beech.
Overall, however, the book remains structurally sound, and
preserves a great deal of the original feel. Internally, it
is in very good condition with the exception of light marginal
damp-staining (not affecting the text), and some worming on
the gutter of the first gathering only (*2-5 have been rehinged).
Rolewinck’s Fasciculus Temporum was an enormously popular
world chronicle, appearing in more than 30 incunabular editions
in Latin, German, French, and Dutch. A very handsome and typographically-sophisticated
volume, with varying columns, circular devices with inset
type, and woodcuts throughout, the work aspires to trace the
history of the world from the beginning of time until the
year of publication. The thirty-three woodcuts are crisp and
rather charming, and, like those in many fifteenth- and sixteenth-century
chronicles (including, most famously, the Nuremberg Chronicle),
are occasionally used repeatedly to illustrate different events
and locations.
The work is fascinating for the comprehensiveness of its content
as well as the beauty of its execution. Of particular interest
is a reference on the verso of leaf 89 which mentions the
invention of printing: “Artifices mira celeritate subtiliores
solito fiunt. Et impressores librorum multiplicant in terra”
(A most accurate and wonderful trade, which quickly multiplies
the number of printed books throughout the world). Considering
that printing had only come to Italy in 1465—and to Venice
only in 1469—this is a remarkably prescient, and unusually
laudatory, observation.
The verso of leaf 68 and two following leaves contain annotations
of a supplementary historical nature in an early sixteenth
century hand. Penning such scholarly addenda was a common
practice among owners of these early chronicles. The annotations
in this copy list various important personages, including
various Popes and a number of Renaissance humanists, among
them Purbach, Gaza, Ficino, and Aldus Manutius.
Goff R-275; BMC I, 127; Hain 6915; Proctor 571; CF Stillwell:
Fasc. Temp 410-412.
|
|
30. Sacro Bosco, Joannes de. (fl. 1230);
Regiomontanus, Joannes (1436-1476); Peurbach, Georg von. (1423-1461).
Sphaera Mundi [with the commentary of Joannes
Regiomontanus and the Theoricae Novae Planetarum of Georg Peurbach]
Venice: Iacobus Pentius de Leucho, 24 December, 1519.
Quarto, 8.0 x 6.0 in. A-F8 (lacking F8 blank).
$5,500
This copy is bound in twentieth-century mottled sheep, the author’s
name and title are tooled on the spine in gold. Internally,
this copy is in excellent condition. The text is illustrated
with more than 80 woodcut illustrations and diagrams. A full-paged
woodcut, depicting Ptolemy seated between Astronomia and Urania
with a zodiac overhead, adorns the title page. There are also
several woodcut initials. The Sessa cat and mouse device appears
on the verso of the final printed leaf.
This edition of Sacrobosco’s Sphaera features the commentary
of Joannes Regiomontanus. Also included in this edition is Georg
Peurbach’s Theoricae Novae Planetarum.
“Sacrobosco’s fame rests firmly on his De sphaera,
a small work based on Ptolemy and his Arabic commentators, published
about 1220 and antedating the Sphaera of Grosseteste. It was
quite generally adopted as the fundamental astronomy text, for
often it was so clear that it needed little or no explanation.
It was first used at the University of Paris.
There are four chapters to the work. Chapter one defines a sphere,
explains its divisions, including the four elements, and also
comments on the heavens and their movements. The revolutions
of the heavens are from East to West and their shape is spherical.
The earth is a sphere, acting as the middle (or center) of the
firmament; it is a mere point in relation to the total firmament
and is immobile. Its measurements are also included. Chapter
two treats the various circles and their names- the celestial
circle, the equinoctial, the movement of the primum mobile with
its two parts, the North and South poles, the zodiac, the ecliptic,
the colures, the meridian and the horizon, and the Arctic and
Antarctic circles. It closes with an explanation of the five
zones. Chapter three explains the cosmic, chronic, and heliacal
risings and settings of the signs and also their right and oblique
ascensions. Explanations are furnished for the variations in
the length of days in different global zones namely the equator,
and in zones extending from the equator to the two poles. A
discussion of the seven climes ends the chapter. The movement
of the sun and other planets and the causes of lunar and solar
eclipses form the brief fourth chapter. (DSB)
"Peurbach’s Theoricae novae planetarum is an elementary
but thorough textbook of planetary theory written by Peurbach
to replace the old, and exceedingly careless, so-called Theorica
planetarum Gerardi. The original version of the Theoricae novae,
completed in 1454, contained sections on the sun, moon, superior
planets, Venus, Mercury, characteristic phenomena and eclipses,
theory of latitude, and the motion of the eighth sphere according
to the Alphonsine Tables. Peurbach later enlarged the work by
adding a section on Thabit ibn Qurra's theory of trepidation.
"The Theoricae novae contains detailed and very careful
descriptions of Ptolemaic planetary models that Peurbach based
wither upon Ibn al-Haytham's description of identical models
in his "On the Configuration of the World" or upon
some later intermediary work. Peurbach's books were of great
importance because his models remained the canonical physical
description of the heavens until Tycho disproved the existence
of solid spheres. Even Copernicus was to a large extent still
under their influence, and the original motivation for his planetary
theory was apparently to correct a number of physical impossibilities
in Peurbach's models relating to non-uniform rotation of solid
spheres." (DSB)
Sander, 6672 (on the 1513 Sessa edition); Honeyman, 2728. This
edition not in Adams or BM Italian. |
|
31. Seneca, Lucius Annaeus. (5 B.C.-65
A.D.)
Tragoediae. [With the commentary of Gellius
Bernardinus Marmita.]
[Venice: Lazarus de Soardis, de Saviliano, 12 December, 1492]
Folio, 11.5 x 8.0 in. a8, b-z6. 140 leaves.
$10,000
This is the fourth edition, the second edition of the Marmita
commentary. There is a little minor marginal waterstaining to
a few leaves. The last seven leaves have been neatly and professionally
reinforced along the inner blank margin. The woodcut printer's
device appears on the final leaf, along with the Cum priuilegio
not present in all versions of the colophon. This is a fine
copy in a modern red morocco binding.
Marmita’s commentary quickly supplanted the earlier commentary
by Balbus, and was the preferred version through the early editions
of Senecaís Tragedies.
Seneca’s are the only Latin tragedies to have come down
to us complete. Apart from this, which makes them valuable witnesses
to an entire literary genre, they are also important documents
of the revival of Latin tragic drama. The various tragic stories
are figured as conflicts of contrasting forces (especially within
the human soul), such as the opposition between reason and passion.
The use of important themes and motifs from the philosophical
works makes clear the fundamental consonance between the two
areas of Seneca’s writing.
Seneca’s prose writings remained popular in the Renaissance,
but it was above all Seneca's tragedies that, for the first
time, dominated within the reception of his works. Renaissance
is inconceivable without Seneca. He not only supplied the genre
with its only Latin exemplars but filled it out with plots,
style, and details that were to become the stock in trade of
European tragic drama for several centuries: exaggerated, heroic
characters, among them sanguinary kings and treacherous courtiers,
lubricious women and virtuous youths; conflicts of power and
politics; violent passions, merciless revenge, and terrific
carnage; drastically heightened language and wittily pointed
epigrams. His influence upon Italian tragedy was massive in
the Renaissance and continued to the time of Metastasio and
Alfieri. The same applies to the French classical tragedy of
Corneille, Racine, and later Voltaire, and to German tragedy.
So, too, in England where Seneca inspired many of the familiar
figures and themes of Marlowe, Shakespeare, and the Jacobean
tragedians: tyrants (Richard II), ghosts invoking revenge (Macbeth,
The Duchess of Malfi, King Lear), torture and mutilation, corpses
littering the stage and murder performed before the audience’s
eyes; in Richard III Shakespeare even seems to have experimented
with an English version of Senecan stichomythia.” (Conte)
Goff S-436; BMC V, 491; Hain 14666; Polain (B) 3486; Proctor
5283; Oates 2066; Walsh 2441. |
32. Soccus [Conradus de Brundelsheim],
Frater. (d.1321)
Sermones de Tempore cum triplici eoru registro.
Strasburg: Johann (Reinhard Gruninger, 12 Feb. 1484.
SOLD
Folio, 8 x 11.2 in.
Third edition 430 leaves.
This incunable edition of Soccus’ work has large initials
in blue and red throughout. The text is in good condition and
has been bound in alum tawed sheepskin over wooden boards with
the original metal clasps and catches.
On the front pastedown is the bookplate of Robert Chambers and
on the first blank leaf in pencil and dated August 15, 1872
is written “This volume before coming to America was stolen
from a Romish monastery and sold to a Jew of Amsterdam who,
among many others, sent it to New York. After the consignment
had laid there some time they were all sold at public auction.”
Conrad of Brundelsheim (Soccus) was Abbot of the Cistercian
monastery Heilsbronn from 1303-1306 and again from 1317-1321.
Very little scholarship has been written about him. Nonetheless,
he was one of the most interesting preachers at this time in
Germany and he is renowned for his diffusion of the spiritual
doctrines of St. Bernard through preaching. His sermons have
come down to us under his cognomen of "Brother Sock"
(Sermones Fratris Socci). Humbert of Romans, General of the
Dominicans, in the second book of his work, "De eruditione
prædicatorum," claims that Soccus can teach "a
way of promptly producing a sermon for any set of men, and for
all variety of circumstances" (Neale, "Mediæval
Sermons", Introd., xix). He is also renowned as an author
of mystical and devotional literature.
Goff S-589; Hain 14826 ; GW 7410; Pell 3931; Polain 1147; Sack
1087. |
|
33. Voragine, Jacobus de. (1230-1298)
Legenda hec aurea nitidis excutitur formis
claretq[ue] plurim[m] ce[n]soria castigatione. vsq[ue] adeo
vt nihil perpera[ ] adhibitum semotumue quod ad rem potissimu[m]
pertinere non videatoru offendi possit.
Lyons: Venunda[n]tur ab Jacobo Huguetano eiusdem civitatis bibliopola
in vico mercuriali: ad angioportu[m] qui in ararim ducit. Et
parrhisijs in vico sancti Jacobi sub diva virgine prope sanctum
Benedictum, [1507].
$4,000
Quarto in eight’s, 9.6 x 6.5 in.
Third Huguetan edition.
aa8, bb4 (the blank bb4 is bound before aa1), a-z8, &4.
The blank preceding the title (bb4) is covered on both sides
with offset type from the table.
The contents are mildly browned and the first five leaves are
water stained at the top. This work boasts a lovely title page,
typical for its age. A large woodcut initial L with face and
a monkey begins the title, which is printed in red. The center
of the title page contains Huguetan’s large criblé
device with his cipher and slogan, surrounded by animals in
trees: a crowned bear and lion, a sheep and a goat. The text
contains 181 historiated woodcut initials including a few figures
of the saints and their martyrdoms and scenes from the life
of Christ.
Voragine’s Golden Legend was typically illustrated, especially
in the incunabula era, as the editions multiplied, the images
were retained, although they did shrink somewhat. This lovely
French imprint contains so many charming initials, whether they
depict saints, Christ, fruit or flowers, they provide an encyclopedic
overview of the period’s aesthetic vision in woodcut.
The binding is contemporary English blindstamped calfskin, which
is worn. It was rebacked long ago, and that repair too is worn.
The tooling consists of bold Tudor roses in a diamond diaper
pattern on both boards. The composition of the boards themselves
is worthy of note. It was made by layering and laminating strips
trimmed from the edges of books. The effect must have been very
successful at the time, as it still presents an overall smooth
surface from the outside. Inside, the pastedowns have released,
thus revealing the binder’s art for us to admire. A few
sixteenth and seventeenth century ownership inscriptions are
found in this copy: on the title: Carmeli Cabilonensis, and
three library numbers M.4; L 1920; and L. 22. In the text, on
page 78: Berthot; and on the verso of the last leaf: Feo Joachius
Robert.
“Jacopo de Voragine is best known as the author of a collection
of legendary lives of the saints, which was entitled ‘Legenda
Sanctorum’ by the author, but soon became universally known
as ‘Legenda Aurea’ (Golden Legend), because the people
of those times considered it worth its weight in gold. If we
are to judge the Golden Legend from an historical standpoint,
we must condemn it as entirely uncritical and hence of no value,
except in so far as it teaches us that the people of those times
were an extremely naive and a thoroughly religious people, permeated
with an unshakable belief in God’s omnipotence and His
fatherly care for those who lead a saintly life. If, on the
other hand, we view the Golden Legend as an artistically composed
book of devotion, we must admit that it is a complete success.
It is admirably adapted to enhance our love and respect towards
God, to foster our devotion towards His saints, and to animate
us with a holy zeal to follow their example. The chief object
of Jacopo de Voragine and of other medieval hagiologists was
not to compose reliable biographies or to write scientific treatises
for the learned, but to write books of devotion that were adapted
to the simple manners of the common people.” (CE)
Baudrier XI, 280; see Adams V-1009; also Mortimer 327 (for the
1505 Huguetan edition). |
|
|
|
|
|
