Tag: incunable

April 28, 2011

PRINTED c. 1488-1490 : ONE OF THE EARLIEST PRINTED BOOKS OF ENGLISH LAW

THE EARLIEST PRINTED ABRIDGMENT OF CASE LAW

HIGHLY IMPORTANT ENGLISH PRINTER

Printed in a specially designed “lettre bâtarde”, the semi-cursive that resembled handwritten script

The Incunable:

[Statham, Nicholas ] [Abridgement of law cases, Edward I-Henry VI, in Norman-French] “Accompte.” [Rouen]: Guillaume Le Talleur, for Richard Pynson, [c.1488- 1490] FOLIO. 24 cm., 187 of 190 lvs., lacking a1 and two prelims (more than 1 and 1/2 pages of the missing prelims through the letter “H” have been copied in contemporary manuscript on a single prelim leaf); q1, r4, and v1 partially cut and defective. The old 1956 auction catalog description that accompanies the book, states that it is missing a title page. This is, in fact, not correct for the work was printed without a title page and before they came into general use. Signatures a-y8, z6, preceded by two unsigned leaves (index), the second of which contains the words (at the end of the index): Printed without a date or author’s name; but presumed to have been printed printed at Rouen by Guillaume Le Talleur, for Richard Pynson “Contains and abridgement of cases decided in the courts between the reign Edward I and the end of that of Henry VI.”–British Museum catalog. Per me R. Pynson Printer’s device on verso of last leaf . Circa 17th century calf with expert rebacking and later endpapers, some marginal worming, occasional thumbing and loss to margins, occasional staining. Overall, a very acceptable copy and certainly one of the most complete to appear at auction. Dated about 1488-90 in CIBN, 1490 by Goff. BMC VIII, 390; STC 23238; Goff S-689. [SOLD]

The Work:

“The earliest printed abridgment of the law is that of Statham (Nicholas), who was appointed a baron of the exchequer in the eighth year of the reign of Edward the Fourth (1468). It is a very curious book, printed, as it would seem, before title-pages were in use, for it is without any title-page, or imprint, or date; and the only notice we have of the printer is the following brief and modest remark, at the end of a short table of contents: “Per me, R. Pynson.” It has been conjectured from the type, that it was printed at Rouen, by William Le Tailleur, who printed Littleton’s Tenures, for Pynson. The latter was bred in the service of Caxton, the first printer with metal types in England, and he succeeded his master in the business. Statham’s Abridgment was published between the years 1470 and 1490, and is a remarkable specimen of the typography of the age.” [Story, Joseph The miscellaneous writings: literary, critical, juridical, and political …J. Munroe and company, 1835]

The Printer:

“Richard Pynson (1448 in Normandy – 1529) was one of the first printers of English books. The 500 books he printed were influential in the standardisation of the English language. Pynson, whose books make him technically and typographically the outstanding English printer of his generation, is credited with introducing Roman type to English printing.” [Wikipedia] This was “the first book commissioned by Richard Pynson as he made the transition from glover and bookbinder to publisher and printer” [Bonhams- see below]

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posted in: Rare Books

October 2, 2010

PRINTED 1481: A HANDSOME AND FRESH KOBERGER INCUNABLE

RARE UNFINISHED UNDERDRAWINGS IN PREPARATION FOR LARGE ILLUMINATED INITIALS

Scotus, Johns Duns.  Quaestiones in quattuor libros Sententiarum.  Nuremberg, Anton Koberger, 1481.  Part III and IV in 1 volume.  FOLIO,  347 mm.  [58], [140] lvs. Parts COMPLETE including initial and final blanks.  Edited by Thomas Penketh and Bartholomaeus Bellatus. Commentary on Petrus Lombardus’ Sententiarum libri quattuor.  Ref: Brit. Mus. Cat. (XV cent.) II, p. 419,  Goff. Third census, D-380.  Later 19th century boards with wear to hinges. Internally, except for some minor marginal worming, a remarkably FRESH COPY; handsomely rubricated in red throughout.  Large penwork initial in fictive frame for each part, in a rare unfinished state, drawn in preparation for illumination.

The unfinished initials, present here as underdrawings, are highly interesting and serve as fine and rare examples of the early process of medieval illumination.   A master artisan was responsible for the layout of the composition prior to the application of gold.  As can be seen in these examples, a metal point, especially a leadpoint, or diluted ink was generally used.

“Anton Koberger (was the godfather of Albrecht Dürer, whose family lived on the same street. In the year before Dürer’s birth in 1471 he ceased goldsmithing to become a printer and publisher. He quickly became the most successful publisher in Germany, absorbing his rivals over the years to become a large capitalist enterprise, with twenty-four presses in operation, printing numerous works simultaneously and employing at its height 100 workers:[3] printers, typesetters, typefounders, illuminators, and the like. Constantly improving his business prospects, he sent out traveling agents and established links with booksellers all over Western Europe, including Venice, Europe’s other great centre of printing, Milan, Paris, Lyon, Vienna and Budapest. At the supply end, he obtained two papermills” [Wikipedia]

“John (Johannes) Duns Scotus, O.F.M. (c. 1265 – 8 November 1308) was one of the more important theologians and philosophers of the High Middle Ages. He was nicknamed Doctor Subtilis for his penetrating and subtle manner of thought.Scotus has had considerable influence on Catholic thought. The doctrines for which he is best known are the “univocity of being,” that existence is the most abstract concept we have, applicable to everything that exists; the formal distinction, a way of distinguishing between different aspects of the same thing; and the idea of haecceity, the property supposed to be in each individual thing that makes it an individual. Scotus also developed a complex argument for the existence of God, and argued scripturally for the Immaculate conception of Mary.

Scotus is considered one of the most important Franciscan theologians and was the founder of Scotism, a special form of Scholasticism.” [Wikipedia]

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posted in: Uncategorized

March 24, 2010

HIGHLY IMPORTANT ISLAMIC INFLUENCED VEGETAL BLINDTAMPED BINDING

PRINTED 1489: ONE OF THE EARLIEST ENCYCLOPEDIC TEXTS


The Incunable:
Alexander, of Hales; Giovanni Antonio Beretta; Francesco Girardenghi . Prima pars Alex. de ales. [Summa universae theologiae.] Papie. : Per Joa[n]nemantonium de birretis ac Fra[n]ciscum gyrardenghum., M.cccc.lxxxix. Die. xi. Iulij. Colophon, pt. 1: Per Joa[n]nemantonium de birretis ac Fra[n]ciscum gyrardenghum. Papie. M.cccc.lxxxix.Die. xi. Iulij , 1489),. 22 x 16 cm., small 4to., 223 lvs.,; mimor worming affecting last few leaves., COMPLETE PART I of the SUMMA. Islamic Vegetal tools and Medieval Zoomorphic tooled Blindstamped German Pigskin binding, with Italian-Islamic influence. Light bumping to top of spine, slight peeling to lower right hinge of spine, but overall a VERY GOOD UNRESTORED AND RARE CONTEMPORARY BINDING. Provenance: Private collection for over 50 years (not offered at auction); Price 950 DM c. mid 1950s.

This collected work by Alexander Hales (d. 1245), represents one of the first encyclopedic texts, in part concerned with divine and natural law. The work follows in the tradition of the famous Etymologies of Isidore of Seville (seventh century), and was not doubt written in response the rise of Universities which ignited the passion for such encyclopedic works. Examples of other such encylopedic ‘Summae,’ include various Commentaries of Peter Lombard, the Master of Sentences, as well as works by Ricardus Rufus, St. Thomas, Albertus, Pliny etc.

The Pigskin binding is a Very Rare and Important Example of Islamic-style vegetal patterns on a blind-tooled binding, which drew motifs from “existing traditions of Byzantine culture in the eastern Mediterranean and Sasanian Iran.” Such Islamic style blindstamping preceded the importation of other Gold-tooling techniques from the Islamic world.

One can see parallel stylistic examples in wood of the “beveled style—a symmetrical abstract floral motif” at this link

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posted in: Rare Books

January 6, 2010

PRINTED 1478: THE GREAT MEDIEVAL FRANCISCAN TEXT


A Very Rare, Early Incunable and an Unusual Uncut Copy

The Incunable:

[Marchesinus, Johannes ] Mammotrectus super Bibliam. Venice : Franciscus Renner, de Heilbronn, and Petrus de Bartua, 1478. 260 ff., the first blank (later) plus vellum rear blank; 4to., 234 x 172 mm., some occasional minor browning and spotting, but overall a complete, fine, and very pleasing copy. A HIGHLY UNUSUAL UNCUT and UNSOPHITICATED COPY, ENTIRELY UNRUBRICATED AND WITH EXCEEDINGLY LARGE MARGINS, whose sheets likely lain in quires and were never bound before receiving their present 19th century binding of boards and calf with raised bands. Late 15th century blotted inscription to lower margin of a1: “hic liber pertinet ad loci sancti Laurentii de Bibiena, in banco sexto in latere dextro,” stating the precise location of the text in what appears to have been the Library of the Convent housing the Minor Franciscan friars of San Lorenzo in Bibiena, Italy. A medieval manuscript in the Walters Art Museum bears a similar inscription.

“Compiled by a thirteenth-century Franciscan at Reggio, near Modena, the Mammotrectus is a manual for the lower clergy with short entries explaining difficult terms and concepts encountered in the Bible. The homely metaphor of the title refers to the “maternal milk,” or nourishment, offered by this text. Its early popularity did not survive the Reformation; already in May of 1515, Erasmus of Rotterdam had criticized those priests who still depended upon the Mammotrectus. ” {reF; “http://smu.edu/bridwell/specialcollections/schoeffer/mammotrectus.htm”]. The first book from the press of Franciscus Renner de Heilbronn is dated 1471 which might indicate when the German printer began printing in Venice. From 1473 to 1477 he worked in partnership with Nicolaus de Frankfordia, the period under which this work was issued.

posted in: Rare Books

December 13, 2009

PRINTED 1470-1472: SORCERY AND THE ORIGINS OF THE WITCHCRAFT CRAZE

A HUMANIST COPY OF ONE OF THE 15th CENTURY’S MOST IMPORTANT WORKS

ONE OF THE EARLIEST OBTAINABLE INCUNABLES

Nider, Johannes, ca. 1380-1438. Praeceptorium divinae legis, sive, Expositio decalogi]. (Basel : Berthold Ruppel, ca. 1470-1472) Folio. 30 x 21.5 cm., 330 leaves (i.e. 660 pages) ff. 1,24, 25 in contemporary manuscript. 37-38 lines and headline, double column, Gothic type, Rubricated in red throughout. Handsome contemporary blind stamped deerskin with remainder of two engraved clasps, spine relaid many years ago, contemporary vellum manuscript bookseller’s waste and inscribed paper fragments used as pastedowns. f. 1 rebacked, f.2 with old ex-libris markings, small holes to ff. 1-4 and 19, some leaves repaired, light staining to gutter of preliminary leaves. Likely evidence of a late 15th century humanist owner with a manuscript except of Juvenal on the rear board pastedown; Juvenal being commonly taught in humanist schools: ” Malo tibi pater sit Thermites, dummodo tu sis .Xacida:, similem, Vulcaniaque arrna capessas, Quam te Thersita? similem producat Achilles.” Goff N-196; BMC III 715. A VERY ATTRACTIVE, WIDE-MARGINED COPY OF A RARE, DESIRABLE, AND VERY EARLY INCUNABLE    [$16,500]

Like the Formicarus, this seminal work by Nider elucidates the origins of the witchcraft craze and persecutions by helping to lay theological foundations, recording the names of those who had contravened the first commandment of God with unusual rituals and superstitious beliefs and acts. He discusses women who “boasted of having seen the souls in purgatory and of many other fantasies” as well as those who were not affected by the flames of a candle upon their skin. Theological debates and questions run throughout the work on the devil, poltergeists, noctural disturbances, imaginary fires and other malefici [Ref: Lea, Henry Charles Materials Toward a History of Witchcraft Part 1, 1890, reprinted 2004 ]

This book was for many years considered to be a 1464 imprint and thus the first book printed in Switzerland, based on a rubricator’s inscription dated Oct. 20 1464 in another copy. However, this rubricator’s date was later shown to be inaccurate and the date of 1470-1472 is now generally assigned. Regarding the date, the Woldcat-compiled cataloguer’s notes state: “F. Finkenstaedt, in Beiträge zu Forschung, neue Folge 4 (München, 1932) pp.7-33, although wrongly accepting a rubricator’s date of 1464 as genuine, showed that this edition served as exemplar for Zel’s first edition (Goff N-207), of which a copy is known with an acquisition note of 1472 (cf. also V. Scholderer, in The Library V, 3 (1948/49) p.50 and K. Ohly in ZfB 57 (1940) pp.247-60). BMC dated not after 1474, and Goff about 1470.”

posted in: Rare Books