SERMONES QUADRAGESIMALES DE XII MIRABILIBUS CHRISTIANAE FIDEI EXCELLENTIIS

16 Feb. 1492/93 · Venice

by (INCUNABULA). ANTONIUS DE VERCELLIS

Venice: Johannes and Gregorius de Gregoriis, de Forlivio, [for Alexander Calcedonius], 16 Feb. 1492/93. FIRST EDITION. 223 x 166 mm. (8 3/4 x 6 1/2"). 1 p.l., 2-263, [5] leaves. COMPLETE. Double column, 51 lines, gothic type. With additions by Ludovicus Brognolo.
Contemporary blind-stamped sheep over wooden boards, upper cover with animated hunting roll frame, central panel with latticework, old vellum label lettered in ink, lower cover with frame of interlocking arches enclosing central panel of latticework, raised bands, detached original brass clasp (bosses at center and corners of boards and the anchor- and catchplates missing). Hand painted (truncated) initials in red. Contemporaneous ink inscription on recto of a1 (see below). Incipit printed in red. Goff A-918; BMC V, 343; ISTC ia00918000. For the binding: EBDB tools r000636 (hunting roll), r000637 (arches roll), and r000640 (latticework), workshop w002144 (Jagd-Rolle V [Jagd am Zaun]); Kyriss 81, Taf. 165f. (arch frieze, hunting roll, stick chain). For the author, see: Muscat, "An Unknown and Unpublished XVth Century Manuscript: Antoninus of Vercelli and his Treatise of Eternal Life," pp. 42-46. Binding rather worn, with corners exposed and lacking about half the spine leather in the bottom and about a third in the top compartments, gutter open with small paper tears at f1, a couple of minor wax stains to text (nothing obscured), other insignificant defects. External defects aside, an appealing copy, with the text clean, bright, and especially fresh, with leaves that crackle when you turn them.

This is a collection of Lenten sermons, delivered by a famous late 15th century Franciscan preacher, on the "marvels" of the Christian faith, offered here in a contemporary binding by a known Augsburg workshop. Though little scholarship has been done on the author's early life, we know that Antonius (d. 1483) was educated at the height of the Renaissance in Italy, and developed a deep appreciation for classical writers. After joining the Orders of Friars Minor, he quickly achieved fame as a talented and passionate preacher. According to Muscat, "He was summoned to preach in great cities at the request of heads of states and cardinals months in advance, and not infrequently the common people, moved by his sermons, implored him to return to their cities to expound to them the word of God. . . . It appears that he was also distinguished with the title of 'Apostolic Preacher'--a title bestowed on the more renowned preachers of his time." The tools used on the contemporary binding here are attributed to a workshop dubbed by Kyriss "Jagd-Rolle V" or "Jagd am Zaun," describing the distinctive "Hunting at the Fence" roll used on the upper cover, which depicts deer and a hunter with a long spear above a continuous wattle fence. EBDB, the bindings database of the Berlin State Library, finds 22 other bindings in German libraries by this workshop. Although our binding has seen better days, it has held together in its unsophisticated state (especially so for such a soft leather as sheep), the tool impressions remain surprisingly sharp, and it has done its job of protecting the contents, which remain clean and crisp throughout. The inscription on the free endpaper indicates that this book was previously held at the Abbey of St. Nikola in Passau, some 150 miles east of Augsburg. Founded in 1070, the abbey was originally created for the use of Augustinian monks. It remained in use (with a brief interruption during the Reformation) until secularization in 1803, when the monastery was officially dissolved.. (Inventory #: ST20157)

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