28 January 1495 · Nuremberg
by (INCUNABULA). DIONYSIUS CARTHUSIENSIS, Attributed to, but by GRUYTRODE, JACOBUS DE
Nuremberg: Peter Wagner, 28 January 1495. 225 x 150 mm. (8 7/8 x 5 7/8"). [118] leaves (final blank). Single column, 33 lines, gothic type.
Contemporary calf over wooden boards, each cover with traces of five round bosses, center brass catchplate and anchor plate (thong lacking), raised bands, four old (partly lost) paper spine labels, Medieval vellum manuscript sewing guards, in new black cloth clamshell box with gilt black morocco label. Paragraph marks in red, capitals struck in red, three- to five-line initials in red. Inside front board with old, taped-on dealer description. Occasional early ink marginalia. Goff D-248; BMC II, 465; ISTC id00248000. â—†Pastedowns missing (with the twined cords revealed in the channels cut into the wooden boards), covers somewhat scratched, extremities rather worn, spine leather crackled and with two vertical cracks, but the original unrestored binding nevertheless entirely sound and with considerable antique appeal. Fore edge of title leaf a bit darkened from turn-in glue, a couple of gatherings with minor dampstains, isolated paper flaws, intermittent thumbing and light smudges to (generous) margins, but an excellent copy internally, the text generally quite clean and fresh.
Issued by a long-practicing printer of useful books, this is an appealing contemporary copy with special features of a collection of moral advice for those in various aspects of religious life as well as for those living in the secular world. Long attributed to Dionysius [or Denys] the Carthusian, it is now known to be the work of his fellow Carthusian monk and friend, Jacobus de Gruytrode, born Jacobus van Eertwach in Gruitrode, ca. 1400-10. He served as an abbot at the Charterhouse in Li ge from 1440 until his death in 1475, during which time he produced numerous works of spiritual guidance for both clergy and laypersons. A number of these were given the title "Speculum" ("Mirror") because they urged readers to take a look at how they were living their lives. As the title indicates, the "Mirrors" here address "all classes of human lives": bishops, abbots, and other prelates, their religious subordinates, parish priests, and those who live in the secular world. Peter Wagner issued his first imprint in Nuremberg in 1483, using types acquired from Conrad Zeninger, whose last known book was printed the previous year; he went on to print throughout the 1490s. ISTC lists 135 titles attributed to him, the preponderance of them being of a practical nature, books for the people, rather than for scholars. In addition to printing the first cookbook in German ("K chenmeisterei," 1485), Wagner produced grammars, Latin-German vocabularies, and other schoolbooks, almanacs and prognostications, and German editions of religious and devotional works. Ours is the only incunabular edition of this work, and while this first printing is not especially rare, finding a copy in its original binding--especially one where the volume's physical construction is fortuitously revealed because of missing pastedowns--is a significant positive.. (Inventory #: ST19753)
Contemporary calf over wooden boards, each cover with traces of five round bosses, center brass catchplate and anchor plate (thong lacking), raised bands, four old (partly lost) paper spine labels, Medieval vellum manuscript sewing guards, in new black cloth clamshell box with gilt black morocco label. Paragraph marks in red, capitals struck in red, three- to five-line initials in red. Inside front board with old, taped-on dealer description. Occasional early ink marginalia. Goff D-248; BMC II, 465; ISTC id00248000. â—†Pastedowns missing (with the twined cords revealed in the channels cut into the wooden boards), covers somewhat scratched, extremities rather worn, spine leather crackled and with two vertical cracks, but the original unrestored binding nevertheless entirely sound and with considerable antique appeal. Fore edge of title leaf a bit darkened from turn-in glue, a couple of gatherings with minor dampstains, isolated paper flaws, intermittent thumbing and light smudges to (generous) margins, but an excellent copy internally, the text generally quite clean and fresh.
Issued by a long-practicing printer of useful books, this is an appealing contemporary copy with special features of a collection of moral advice for those in various aspects of religious life as well as for those living in the secular world. Long attributed to Dionysius [or Denys] the Carthusian, it is now known to be the work of his fellow Carthusian monk and friend, Jacobus de Gruytrode, born Jacobus van Eertwach in Gruitrode, ca. 1400-10. He served as an abbot at the Charterhouse in Li ge from 1440 until his death in 1475, during which time he produced numerous works of spiritual guidance for both clergy and laypersons. A number of these were given the title "Speculum" ("Mirror") because they urged readers to take a look at how they were living their lives. As the title indicates, the "Mirrors" here address "all classes of human lives": bishops, abbots, and other prelates, their religious subordinates, parish priests, and those who live in the secular world. Peter Wagner issued his first imprint in Nuremberg in 1483, using types acquired from Conrad Zeninger, whose last known book was printed the previous year; he went on to print throughout the 1490s. ISTC lists 135 titles attributed to him, the preponderance of them being of a practical nature, books for the people, rather than for scholars. In addition to printing the first cookbook in German ("K chenmeisterei," 1485), Wagner produced grammars, Latin-German vocabularies, and other schoolbooks, almanacs and prognostications, and German editions of religious and devotional works. Ours is the only incunabular edition of this work, and while this first printing is not especially rare, finding a copy in its original binding--especially one where the volume's physical construction is fortuitously revealed because of missing pastedowns--is a significant positive.. (Inventory #: ST19753)
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