Details
AUGUSTINUS, Aurelius (St., 354-430). De civitate Dei. Commentary by Thomas Waleys (d. before 1349) and Nicolaus Trivet (1258?-1328). Basel: Johann Amerbach, 13 February 1489.
Median 2° (321x223mm). Collation: a10 b-o8 p-y A-K8.6 L-O6.8 (A1r title, a1v woodcut, verses, a2r Argumentum and book headings, a3r Waleys and Trivet on the text, a4r text within commentary, O4v tabula, O8v blank). 268 leaves. 53 lines of text, 65 of commentary, double column. Type: 9:76G (commentary), 13:124G (headlines), 14:285G (title), 15*:92bG (text). Woodcut depicting Augustine and the two cities of God and Satan, by the Master of Haintz-Narr; 2- to 9-line initial spaces with printed guide-letters. (Some light marginal dampstains in both works, small wormholes in first several quires of De trinitate and last quires in De civitate Dei affecting a few letters, outer- and innermost sheets in final quire O rehinged, the last repaired, affecting a few letters.) HC 2064; GW 2887; BMC III, 751 (IB. 37313); Goff A-1243; Pellechet 1559; Schreiber 3393; Schramm XXI, p.26; BSB A-861; van der Haegen, Amerbach 48
[Bound second with:]
AUGUSTINUS, Aurelius. De trinitate Dei. Basel: Johann Amerbach, 1489.
Median 2°. Collation: a-c8 d-l8.6 m6 (a1 title, a2r Argumentum, letter from Augustine to Aurelius, Bp. of Carthage, headings for book 1, a2v text, m4v tabula). 85 (of 86, without title, facsimile laid in) leaves. 54 lines and headline, double column. Type: 6:108G (headings), 9:76G (marginalia), 13:124G (headlines), 14:285 (title), 15*:92bG (text), 95b Greek (on a4v, d5v). 2- to 6-line initial spaces with printed guide-letters. HC 2037; GW 2926; BMC II, 751 (IB. 37314); Goff A-1343, Pellechet 1541; BSB A-877; van der Haegen, Amerbach 49
Nineteenth-century calf-backed pastepaper boards with contemporary darkened pigskin, blindstamped, laid down on sides (rubbed), speckled edges; stamps not in Kyriss or Schwenke-Sammlung. Provenance: a few annotations in an early hand, one dated 1506; Georg Adam von Reider, engraved bookplate; Göttingen, Bibliotheca Academica Georgiae Augustae, stamp, which became; Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, with deaccession stamp dated 6 July 1905.
The woodcut on the verso of the title-page in De civitate Dei is the first known work attributable to the Master of Haintz-Narr, considered by Winkler to be the best woodcut artist in Basel before Dürer (F. Winkler, Dürer und die Illustrationen zum Narrenschiff. Berlin, 1951). Amerbach printed this pair of texts in quick succession, followed by Augustine's Explanatio psalmorum (see lot ), and a year later reprinted them. Based on the success of these volumes he then embarked on the ambitious project of printing the whole of Augustine's works, completed in 1506.
Median 2° (321x223mm). Collation: a10 b-o8 p-y A-K8.6 L-O6.8 (A1r title, a1v woodcut, verses, a2r Argumentum and book headings, a3r Waleys and Trivet on the text, a4r text within commentary, O4v tabula, O8v blank). 268 leaves. 53 lines of text, 65 of commentary, double column. Type: 9:76G (commentary), 13:124G (headlines), 14:285G (title), 15*:92bG (text). Woodcut depicting Augustine and the two cities of God and Satan, by the Master of Haintz-Narr; 2- to 9-line initial spaces with printed guide-letters. (Some light marginal dampstains in both works, small wormholes in first several quires of De trinitate and last quires in De civitate Dei affecting a few letters, outer- and innermost sheets in final quire O rehinged, the last repaired, affecting a few letters.) HC 2064; GW 2887; BMC III, 751 (IB. 37313); Goff A-1243; Pellechet 1559; Schreiber 3393; Schramm XXI, p.26; BSB A-861; van der Haegen, Amerbach 48
[Bound second with:]
AUGUSTINUS, Aurelius. De trinitate Dei. Basel: Johann Amerbach, 1489.
Median 2°. Collation: a-c8 d-l8.6 m6 (a1 title, a2r Argumentum, letter from Augustine to Aurelius, Bp. of Carthage, headings for book 1, a2v text, m4v tabula). 85 (of 86, without title, facsimile laid in) leaves. 54 lines and headline, double column. Type: 6:108G (headings), 9:76G (marginalia), 13:124G (headlines), 14:285 (title), 15*:92bG (text), 95b Greek (on a4v, d5v). 2- to 6-line initial spaces with printed guide-letters. HC 2037; GW 2926; BMC II, 751 (IB. 37314); Goff A-1343, Pellechet 1541; BSB A-877; van der Haegen, Amerbach 49
Nineteenth-century calf-backed pastepaper boards with contemporary darkened pigskin, blindstamped, laid down on sides (rubbed), speckled edges; stamps not in Kyriss or Schwenke-Sammlung. Provenance: a few annotations in an early hand, one dated 1506; Georg Adam von Reider, engraved bookplate; Göttingen, Bibliotheca Academica Georgiae Augustae, stamp, which became; Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, with deaccession stamp dated 6 July 1905.
The woodcut on the verso of the title-page in De civitate Dei is the first known work attributable to the Master of Haintz-Narr, considered by Winkler to be the best woodcut artist in Basel before Dürer (F. Winkler, Dürer und die Illustrationen zum Narrenschiff. Berlin, 1951). Amerbach printed this pair of texts in quick succession, followed by Augustine's Explanatio psalmorum (see lot ), and a year later reprinted them. Based on the success of these volumes he then embarked on the ambitious project of printing the whole of Augustine's works, completed in 1506.