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ARNOLDUS DE GEILHOVEN (d.1442). Gnotosolitos, sive Speculum conscientiae. Brussels: [Brothers of the Common Life, at the House of Nazareth], 25 May 1476.
Details
ARNOLDUS DE GEILHOVEN (d.1442). Gnotosolitos, sive Speculum conscientiae. Brussels: [Brothers of the Common Life, at the House of Nazareth], 25 May 1476.
Royal 2° (378 x 277mm). Collation: [1-1310 148 15-2710 288 29-3110 32-338 3410 3512 36-4510 46-488 496] (1/1r blank, 1/2v colophon, verses, 1/2r book one, 35/1 blank, 35/2r tabula to part one, 35/12v blank, 36/1r part two headings, 36/1v part two, 48/8r second colophon, verses (repeated from 1/2), 48/8v-49/1 blank, 49/2r tabula to part two, 49/6 blank). 474 leaves. 50 lines and headline, double column, printed shoulder notes. Type: 1:101G. 33 fine initials by a contemporary hand in blue with red penwork decoration and green highlights, and in red with blue penwork, smaller initials alternating in red and blue, red paragraph marks and capital strokes, contemporary foliation in brown ink. (Very small tears in first 3 leaves repaired with partial loss of 2 letters.) Modern tan calf over wooden boards blindstamped to a 15th-century style by Claessens, vellum pastedowns, (slightly rubbed at extremities, small split at front hinge). Provenance: inscriptions dated 1485 on 1/1 and 29/1 (erased, creating a small hole), inscriptions on 1/1v, 48/8r and 49/5v washed.
Only 15th-century edition and one of the earliest books printed at Brussels. The Brothers of the Common Life were actively involved in the production of texts, both for their own use and for others. They had established presses at Rostock and Marienthal, and the community at Brussels followed suit in 1475 by setting up the first press there, aided by Johann Veldener. Veldener supplied the Brothers with type and may have printed their first book (HPT I, pp.25-8). The Gnotosolitos is the most significant book printed by the Brothers at Brussels, and a new type, evolved through several small tracts from type 1, was introduced for its production.
The 14th-century jurist Arnoldus de Geilhoven is the first known disciple of Petrarch in the Netherlands. Having pursued his legal studies at Bologne and Padua, Arnoldus probably knew Petrarch's autograph manuscripts through his friendship with Francescuolo da Brossano, Petrarch's son-in-law. The Gnotosolitos contains eleven Petrarcan quotations, mostly from De remediis. Arnoldus also quotes from Dante and Boccaccio, according all three literary men an authority similar to the Church Fathers. (See Nicholas Mann, "Arnold Geilhoven: an early disciple of Petrarch in the Low Countries," Journal of the Courtauld and Warburg Institutes, 32, 1969, pp.73-108.) Ostensibly an examination of the conscience, the present work is an extensive manual on Christian doctrine, setting out teaching on the ten commandments, the sacraments, the virtues and vices, and ecclesiastical sanctions, particularly excommunication. According to the preface, the author's manuscript served as printer's copy; it is no longer extant.
RARE. Not in the British Library, and only one copy in America. HC 7514; GW 2512; Goff A-1063; IDL 417; Cinquième centenaire, 93.
Royal 2° (378 x 277mm). Collation: [1-1310 148 15-2710 288 29-3110 32-338 3410 3512 36-4510 46-488 496] (1/1r blank, 1/2v colophon, verses, 1/2r book one, 35/1 blank, 35/2r tabula to part one, 35/12v blank, 36/1r part two headings, 36/1v part two, 48/8r second colophon, verses (repeated from 1/2), 48/8v-49/1 blank, 49/2r tabula to part two, 49/6 blank). 474 leaves. 50 lines and headline, double column, printed shoulder notes. Type: 1:101G. 33 fine initials by a contemporary hand in blue with red penwork decoration and green highlights, and in red with blue penwork, smaller initials alternating in red and blue, red paragraph marks and capital strokes, contemporary foliation in brown ink. (Very small tears in first 3 leaves repaired with partial loss of 2 letters.) Modern tan calf over wooden boards blindstamped to a 15th-century style by Claessens, vellum pastedowns, (slightly rubbed at extremities, small split at front hinge). Provenance: inscriptions dated 1485 on 1/1 and 29/1 (erased, creating a small hole), inscriptions on 1/1v, 48/8r and 49/5v washed.
Only 15th-century edition and one of the earliest books printed at Brussels. The Brothers of the Common Life were actively involved in the production of texts, both for their own use and for others. They had established presses at Rostock and Marienthal, and the community at Brussels followed suit in 1475 by setting up the first press there, aided by Johann Veldener. Veldener supplied the Brothers with type and may have printed their first book (HPT I, pp.25-8). The Gnotosolitos is the most significant book printed by the Brothers at Brussels, and a new type, evolved through several small tracts from type 1, was introduced for its production.
The 14th-century jurist Arnoldus de Geilhoven is the first known disciple of Petrarch in the Netherlands. Having pursued his legal studies at Bologne and Padua, Arnoldus probably knew Petrarch's autograph manuscripts through his friendship with Francescuolo da Brossano, Petrarch's son-in-law. The Gnotosolitos contains eleven Petrarcan quotations, mostly from De remediis. Arnoldus also quotes from Dante and Boccaccio, according all three literary men an authority similar to the Church Fathers. (See Nicholas Mann, "Arnold Geilhoven: an early disciple of Petrarch in the Low Countries," Journal of the Courtauld and Warburg Institutes, 32, 1969, pp.73-108.) Ostensibly an examination of the conscience, the present work is an extensive manual on Christian doctrine, setting out teaching on the ten commandments, the sacraments, the virtues and vices, and ecclesiastical sanctions, particularly excommunication. According to the preface, the author's manuscript served as printer's copy; it is no longer extant.
RARE. Not in the British Library, and only one copy in America. HC 7514; GW 2512; Goff A-1063; IDL 417; Cinquième centenaire, 93.