Lot n° 10
Estimation :
1500 - 2000
EUR
10. CASSIODORE. Vri Dei de Regimine Ecclesie Primitive hysto - Lot 10
10. CASSIODORE. Vri Dei de Regimine Ecclesie Primitive hystoria Tripartita Felicter Incipit. Paris, G. Wolf, s.d. (1492). In-4, [108] f., leather binding with spine rebound in muted fawn basane (19th century).
Remarkable Parisian incunabula edition of Cassiodorus' Historia ecclesiastica. The text opens with Georg Wolf's printer's mark on the title page, then is composed using elegant Gothic type in 2 columns. The entire copy is rubricated with initials painted in red and blue.
This work by the 5th-century Latin author Cassiodorus is divided into twelve books, covering a period from the accession of Emperor Constantine I in 306 to the death of Emperor Theodosius II in 450. Cassiodorus uses Epiphanius' translation from Greek into Latin of the works of the three Greek authors Socrates of Constantinople, Sozomen and Theodoret of Cyr (hence the tripartite character), organizing them to create a coherent, continuous narrative.
On the printer Georg Wolf, who seems to have been active for only ten years, see Claudin's extensive and interesting note.
Provenance: A. Laigre, to the motto "Qui tout bien donne" by a handwritten bookplate on the last blank leaf, another handwritten bookplate on the title page is masked by the armorial and engraved bookplate of a Lucas de Lestaville (Afcel L2841), possibly Frédéric Louis Lucas de Lestanville (1829-1880).
Binding lightly rubbed with marks and spotting, corners dulled, handwritten label glued to back cover, printing crease to fifth leaf, one through and barely visible spotting on last quarter of leaves, other minor defects.
(Hain, 4570; Claudin, II, 95).
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