Details
JACOBUS DE THERAMO (1350-1417). Consolatio peccatorum, seu Processus Belial. [Strassburg: Heinrich Knoblochtzer,] 1484.
Chancery 2o (277 x 205mm). Collation: a-b8 c-d6 e-k8.6 l-n8 (a1 blank, a2r text, n7r colophon, n7v blank, n8 blank). 92 leaves only (of 94; without blanks). 42 lines, double-column. Roman type 3:96. 3- and 7-line initial spaces, most with guide-letters. Rubricated: initials in red throughout, first 13 leaves and f3v-f6r with modern initial and marginal decoration in blue and gilt added over the red. (Some mold-spotting in upper margins, m2-end with wormtracks in lower corner, patched on 7 leaves, some occasional spotting and light soiling.) 19th-century blue quarter morocco, mottled boards, edges gilt (spine lightly rubbed); quarter calf folding case. Provenance: "Bundesdenkmalamt" (stamp on front free endpaper) -- purchased from Frognal Rare Books, London, 2 September 1982.
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. C 5793; BMC I, 89 (IB 1091); BSB-Ink I-54; CIBN J-50; Pr 373; Goff J-70.
Chancery 2o (277 x 205mm). Collation: a-b8 c-d6 e-k8.6 l-n8 (a1 blank, a2r text, n7r colophon, n7v blank, n8 blank). 92 leaves only (of 94; without blanks). 42 lines, double-column. Roman type 3:96. 3- and 7-line initial spaces, most with guide-letters. Rubricated: initials in red throughout, first 13 leaves and f3v-f6r with modern initial and marginal decoration in blue and gilt added over the red. (Some mold-spotting in upper margins, m2-end with wormtracks in lower corner, patched on 7 leaves, some occasional spotting and light soiling.) 19th-century blue quarter morocco, mottled boards, edges gilt (spine lightly rubbed); quarter calf folding case. Provenance: "Bundesdenkmalamt" (stamp on front free endpaper) -- purchased from Frognal Rare Books, London, 2 September 1982.
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. C 5793; BMC I, 89 (IB 1091); BSB-Ink I-54; CIBN J-50; Pr 373; Goff J-70.