Details
JACOBUS DE THERAMO (1350-1417). Consolatio peccatorum, seu Processus Belial. [Cologne: Printer of Augustinus, 'De Fide', ca. 1473].
Chancery 2o (286 x 211 mm). Collation: [1-810 9-108] (1/1r text, 10/8r colophon, 10/8v blank). 96 leaves. 36 lines, double column. Type: 100(104)G. Two- to six-line initial spaces, a few with printed guide-letters, others with manuscript guide-letters. Rubricated with red Lombard initials, capital strokes and paragraph signs. Traces of contemporary manuscript quiring in lower right corners of rectos. (Dampstain to upper margins in last half of book, old repair to torn blank margin of 2/9v, clean tear to 7/9, 10/3 torn with loss of text, first and last leaves frayed and soiled, stains and smudges.) Contemporary blind-ruled leather (some wear, small loss of leather to back cover, rebacked); vellum pastedowns, evidence of two clasps.
Provenance: Trier, Capuchins: inscription on 1/1r -- Trier, Public Library: inscription dated 1802 on 1/1r.
An early edition of one of the most curious works of the Middle Ages. The devil, angered by the deliverance of the souls of the just, chooses Belial to institute a lawsuit against Christ. After lengthy proceedings and maneuverings, in which all the rites and procedures of a medieval lawsuit are carefully observed, the argument is submitted to arbitration and Belial loses. The work was printed in at least 36 incunable editions, in Latin and in translation.
The Augustinus De fide press produced eleven quarto and two folio editions, two of which are signed from Cologne and several of which are datable to 1473-74. Although recent opinion has tended to identify the printer with Johann Schilling, Paul Needham has argued for retaining the eponymous appellation because the type used in books assigned to this press differs in several respects from related types used by identifiable printers (Ars Impressoria ... Festgabe fr Severin Corsten, Munich 1986, pp. 103-131).
C 5786; BMC I, 233 (IB. 3735); BSB-Ink. I-52; CIBN J-46; Harvard/Walsh 402; Pr 1107; Voulliéme Köln 616; Goff J-65.
Chancery 2
Provenance: Trier, Capuchins: inscription on 1/1r -- Trier, Public Library: inscription dated 1802 on 1/1r.
An early edition of one of the most curious works of the Middle Ages. The devil, angered by the deliverance of the souls of the just, chooses Belial to institute a lawsuit against Christ. After lengthy proceedings and maneuverings, in which all the rites and procedures of a medieval lawsuit are carefully observed, the argument is submitted to arbitration and Belial loses. The work was printed in at least 36 incunable editions, in Latin and in translation.
The Augustinus De fide press produced eleven quarto and two folio editions, two of which are signed from Cologne and several of which are datable to 1473-74. Although recent opinion has tended to identify the printer with Johann Schilling, Paul Needham has argued for retaining the eponymous appellation because the type used in books assigned to this press differs in several respects from related types used by identifiable printers (Ars Impressoria ... Festgabe fr Severin Corsten, Munich 1986, pp. 103-131).
C 5786; BMC I, 233 (IB. 3735); BSB-Ink. I-52; CIBN J-46; Harvard/Walsh 402; Pr 1107; Voulliéme Köln 616; Goff J-65.