Details
BOETHIUS, Anicius Manlius Torquatus Severinus (ca.480-524). De consolatione philosophiae, with commentary ascribed to Thomas Aquinas. Nuremberg: Anton Koberger, 12 November 1476.
Royal 2° (390 x 271mm). Collation: [16 210 38 410 56 6-1110 126 13-1410 158 166] (1/1 blank, 1/2 tabula, 2/1 blank, 2/2r text, 6/1 blank, 6/2 commentary on books 1-3, 12/6 blank, 13/1 commentary on books 4-5, 16/6 blank). 135 (of 140, without the five blank) leaves, folio 1/6 supplied from another copy. 34 lines, table and commentary in 2 columns. Type: 2:115G. 6-line initial opening text in red with brown penwork decoration, 2-line initials, capital strokes and paragraph marks in red up to 1/4 and in 6/2-5 only, book nos. written in a contemporary hand in upper margin. (Small wormholes occasionally touching text, a few marginal tears repaired.) Early 19th-century red straight-grained morocco gilt, vellum front flyleaf, g.e. (very slightly scuffed at extremities). Provenance: Mark Masterman Sykes (booklabel); J.H. Thorold, Syston Park (bookplate, acquired from Bohn).
FIRST EDITION WITH THIS COMMENTARY. Boethius wrote De consolatione Philosophiae while in prison at Pavia, and his autobiographical desolation forms the starting point of his masterpiece. Philosophy, in allegorical female form, comes to Boethius to console him in his sorrow and to lead him to the ultimate knowledge. This work, along with others by Boethius, was the chief conduit of Platonic and Neoplatonic thought in the Middle Ages, and incorporates large parts of Plato's Timaeus. HC *3370; GW 4526; BMC II, 413 (IC.7134-5); Goff B-771; BSB B-596.
Royal 2° (390 x 271mm). Collation: [16 210 38 410 56 6-1110 126 13-1410 158 166] (1/1 blank, 1/2 tabula, 2/1 blank, 2/2r text, 6/1 blank, 6/2 commentary on books 1-3, 12/6 blank, 13/1 commentary on books 4-5, 16/6 blank). 135 (of 140, without the five blank) leaves, folio 1/6 supplied from another copy. 34 lines, table and commentary in 2 columns. Type: 2:115G. 6-line initial opening text in red with brown penwork decoration, 2-line initials, capital strokes and paragraph marks in red up to 1/4 and in 6/2-5 only, book nos. written in a contemporary hand in upper margin. (Small wormholes occasionally touching text, a few marginal tears repaired.) Early 19th-century red straight-grained morocco gilt, vellum front flyleaf, g.e. (very slightly scuffed at extremities). Provenance: Mark Masterman Sykes (booklabel); J.H. Thorold, Syston Park (bookplate, acquired from Bohn).
FIRST EDITION WITH THIS COMMENTARY. Boethius wrote De consolatione Philosophiae while in prison at Pavia, and his autobiographical desolation forms the starting point of his masterpiece. Philosophy, in allegorical female form, comes to Boethius to console him in his sorrow and to lead him to the ultimate knowledge. This work, along with others by Boethius, was the chief conduit of Platonic and Neoplatonic thought in the Middle Ages, and incorporates large parts of Plato's Timaeus. HC *3370; GW 4526; BMC II, 413 (IC.7134-5); Goff B-771; BSB B-596.