Incunabula

1. EUSEBIUS OF CAESAREA De evangelica praeparatione. Venice, [Bartholomaeus de Zanis], November 10, 1500. Modern vellum, flyleaves renewed, last blank page is missing. With bookplate of the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica in Amsterdam. 65 leaves. Translated from Greek into Latin by Georgius Trapezuntius. With table of contents, poems and epilogue dedicated to Albertus Vonicus Tarvisanus by Hieronymus Bononius. Large and small woodcut initials, the first of which is colored. Manuscript owner’s mark on the title page, many contemporary marginalia and doodles, pointing fingers and underlining in different hands and colours, and on the colophon page some owner’s marks and the handwritten date 1515. Some creasing.
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* A charming incunable, from the end of the last possible incunable year 1500. Full of funny little woodcut initials decorated with rabbits, winged mice, flowers and birds, as well as Renaissance men and monsters. A few times an inverted A was used as a V! Many of the handwritten additions are also pleasing to the eye, both calligraphically and substantively.
Goff E 123, BMC V 435, H 6707, IGI 3759, 3760, GW 9445.
Saint Eusebius of Caesarea was a contemporary and admirer of Constantine the Great. This ‘Preparation for the Gospel’ is an introduction to Christianity for heathens, as vivid as the many cheerful initials in this issue! This book is filled with fragments of ancient history that have not been preserved anywhere else. (We are happy to send you some more pictures).

2. FERRARIENSIS, Johannes De Coelesti vita. Venice, Matteo Capcasa (di Codeca), per Hieronymus Blondus, 19 December, 1494. 30,6 x 22,1 cm. Bound in morocco-backed boards around 1800-1850, with title label, a bit worn at the sides. Bookplate of Thomas South and of the BPhH. 72 leaves. Title printed in RED, with printer’s mark and decorated woodcut initials. Handwritten notes on title page and flyleaves.
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* Broad-margined theological work. With a large metalcut initial ‘N’ and 3 large woodcut initials (C, M and B) plus numerous smaller woodcut or metalcut initials. Title page printed in red with a list of the essays contained in this book and a phoenix. Goff J313.

4. LACTANTIUS, Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Opera. De divinis institutionibus libri septem; De Ira dei; et Opificio hominis cum Epithomon eiusdem. Venice, Vincentius Benalius, 22 march 1493. 30 x 21 cm. Early 19th century vellum with old marks of the University of Leiden (“ACAD/ LVGD”). 139 leaves (first blank missing). Capital spaces with guide letters. Roman type with some sprinklings of Greek. At the beginning a handwritten register of words for this Lactantius. At the end part of a written register extracted from Cassius Dio. At the first text page a stamp of Leiden University signifying that the book was sold by Leiden University, signed by  W.N. du Rieu, Librarian 1880-1897. Marginal notes in old hands (mainly one hand, the same as the author of the registers). Some old page numbers partly cut off, in the beginning some stains.
€ 4500
* Austerely elegant incunable, discarded in the 19th century from Leiden University, with alphabetical registers and learned notes (handwritten) probably from the 16th century. 135 complete copies in ISTC. Goff L-11.

6. PSEUDO-BONAVENTURA Meditationes vitae Christi, (or in full:) Meditationes devotissime totius vite domini nostri Jesu Christi. Venice, Manfredus de Bonellis, de Monteferrato, December 14, 1497. With at the end two poems: Bonaventura, Lignum vitae; and Johannes Peckham, Canticum de sanctissimo nomine Jesu Christi. 15,1 x 10,8 cm. Overlapping vellum. 66 leaves, the last blank (with mistakes in the page numbering). Title page with a woodcut of the Pietà on recto and another of the Crucifixion on verso. Text printed in two columns. One 5-line woodcut capital and numerous 2-line capitals. Reprint of a very popular book written by an unknown Franciscan. Large bookplate of Manfred Mehl, elegant bookplate (embossed, gilt, in colors) of the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica. A little soiling and browning, vague light brown stain on title page, marginal inkstain at the end.
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* Meditations about the life of Christ. Long attributed to St. Bonaventura. Second edition with illustrations. Goff B 899. 42 complete copies in libraries, but not in Belgium or the Netherlands (only BPH is mentioned, which is this copy).

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8. LEGENDE VAN SINTE WILLEBROERT Die legende van Sinte Willebroert. Gereproduceerd uit het passionael winterstuc gedrukt door Gheraert Leeu ter Goude 31 juli 1478. Verklarende tekst van kanunnik E. Lagerwey. Aanhangsel (…) door pater dr. B. Kruitwagen, o.f.m. Maastricht, Leiter-Nypels, 1940. Folio (32 x 26 cm). Vellum paper covered boards. (2), 62 p. Printed in red, blue and black in 500 numbered copies. Upper cover a bit stained, with inscriptions previous owners on flyleaf.
€ 30
* With fine photographic reproductions of the incunable and at the end an entertaining account in “medieval” Dutch. Beautiful edition with wide margins!

9. HAEBLER, Konrad Handbuch der Inkunabelkunde. Stuttgart, Anton Hiersemann, 1966. Cloth with dust jacket. (8), 192 p. 2nd edition (unchanged reprint of the first edition, dating from 1925). DJ slightly worn, otherwise fine.
€ 25
* Essential for incunable lovers! Written in a light-hearted style by the great German incunabulogist Konrad Haebler (1857-1946).

10. INCUNABULA IN ROMANIA Catalogul incunabulelor. Cluj-Napoca, Editura Dacia, 1979. Gilt cloth with dust jacket. 124 p. Illustrated. In Rumanian. Excellent condition.
€ 25
* Detailed and illustrated descriptions of 84 incunables of the Central University Library of Cluj in Romania and 5 others from the National Museum of Romanian History in Bucharest in alphabetical order. = Inkunabel-Katalog Rumänien.

11. ROLEVINCK, Werner Ein Buch zum Lobe Westfalens des alten Sachsenlandes. De laude antiquae Saxoniae nunc Westphaliae dictae. Der Text der lateinischen Erstausgabe vom Jahre 1474 mit deutscher Übersetzung. Herausgegeben von Hermann Bücker. Münster, Aschendorff, (1982). XII, 272 p. Linnen met stofomslag. Enkele kreukjes in omslag, verder zeer gaaf.
€ 25
* Herdruk van dit boek over Westfalen en Oost-Nederland uit 1474 in het Latijn, met vertaling in het Duits. Met noten, bibliografie en registers, ook het broodnodige plaatsnamenregister.