GREGORY IX (Ugolino of Siena, ca 1148-1241, Pope from 1227). Decretales cum glossa Bernardi Parmensis. Collected and edited by St. Raymund of Peñafort (1185-1275). Mainz: Peter Schoeffer, 23rd November 1473.
GREGORY IX (Ugolino of Siena, ca 1148-1241, Pope from 1227). Decretales cum glossa Bernardi Parmensis. Collected and edited by St. Raymund of Peñafort (1185-1275). Mainz: Peter Schoeffer, 23rd November 1473.

Details
GREGORY IX (Ugolino of Siena, ca 1148-1241, Pope from 1227). Decretales cum glossa Bernardi Parmensis. Collected and edited by St. Raymund of Peñafort (1185-1275). Mainz: Peter Schoeffer, 23rd November 1473.

Imperial 2o (471 x 330 mm, vellum leaves slightly shorter). PRINTED ON PAPER AND VELLUM: with conjugate outer leaves of each gathering printed on vellum in all but two quires (6/10 is printed on paper, and lacking 34/12, text present on 34/11v as in paper issue and COMPLETE). Collation: [1-310 46 54(3+1); 6-810 9-106; 11-1210 138 1410(9+1); 15-1610 178 186(5+1); 19-2110 226 236(5+1); 24-2610 278 286; 29-3010 318(7+1); 32-3310 3412]. 304 leaves (of 305; without final blank 34/12). 81 lines (full page of commentary), double column (text with commentary surround). Gothic types 5:118 (text, colophon, commendatory verse) and 6:92 (gloss). Rubric headings, colophon, Fust-Schoeffer device (Weil 85), and the last of the commendatory poems printed in red.

Five 10- to 13-line finely illuminated miniatures at the head of each book by a contemporary artist in gold and colors, with leafy border extensions in colors and gold (or silver). The miniature on 1r (Book I) depicts Gregory in his study, 84r (Book II) Judge with figures before him, 158r (Book III) Priest celebrating the Mass, 224r (Book IV) betrothal scene, and 247r (Book V) Judge with figures at his sides. 4-6 line Liber initials illuminated in gilt and colors with leafy and penwork extensions. 3-line (tituli) and 2-line (section) initials, both in text and commentary, rubricated alternately red and blue; paragraph marks alternately red and blue; in-text lombard capitals alternately red and blue. Red capital strokes. Rubricated head-line of book numbers, roman numerals, mostly in red. (1 and 17/8 with lower margin renewed in vellum, minor stains to text on 19/3-4, fore-margin on 334/1 with stains and few holes, old vellum repair to lower corner before going to press.) 19th-century brown morocco, sides with central arabesque strapwork design in gilt, edges gilt (rebacked, preserving original backstrip). Provenance: Estelle Doheny (morocco bookpate; purchased from Dawson's Bookshop, Los Angeles, 1 July 1941) -- donated to SMS 1941.

Second edition, preceded by the Strassburg edition of Heinrich Eggestein (Goff G-446). The Decretals form the primary work associated with Pope Gregory IX. In 1230 he ordered his chaplain St. Raymond of Peñafort to form a new collection of canonical laws, to replace those formerly used. The project took four years to complete, and the result contains 1,971 chapters which incorporate parts of the earlier laws, while reclassifying some and deleting others that were found obsolete. The gloss is by the Bolognese decretalist Bernardo of Parma (d. 1266).

Schoeffer's edition was issued on both paper and vellum. In the vellum issue, the commendatory verse was printed on 34/12r (fo. 305r), 304v being blank; in the paper issue, the verse is printed from the same setting on 304v and 305 is blank. This highly unusual copy combines the vellum and paper leaves, with the outer conjugate leaves of each quire printed on vellum, except in two gatherings: the sixth quire comprises 6/1 a vellum singleton and 6/10 a paper singleton, and the final gathering which CONTAINS THE COMMENDATORY VERSE MAKING REFERENCE TO SCHOEFFER'S ROLE IN THE INVENTION OF PRINTING on 34/11v (fo. 304v), following the imposition of the paper issue (but here with the vellum conjugate of 34/1 removed). The typographical setting of fo. 1r corresponds with the BL and Morgan vellum copies, and as the Doheny paper copy from the first Doheny sale (Christie's New York, 22 October 1987, lot 11). The early foliation and marginalia indicate the mixed vellum and paper sheets of this copy were gathered at a contemporary date. Since all but one of the five miniatures are on vellum leaves and appear on the first leaf of its respective quire, it seems plausible that this copy was gathered from extra illuminated vellum leaves and ordinary paper sheets.

The style of the illumination and decoration are clearly the work of a Mainz artist, and resemble the style and palette of the 1470 Schoeffer edition of St. Jerome's Epistolare sold in the first Doheny sale (Christie's New York, 22 October 1987, lot 9). The subjects of the five miniatures resemble the BM vellum copy and the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek vellum copies (Exemplare 4 und 5). Some paper copies have an illuminated miniature on the first leaf (see Abrams copy, sold Sotheby's, 16 November 1989, lot 57), or are with spaces left blank (see Doheny copy, sold Christie's New York, 22 October 1987, lot 11).

A LARGE FRESH COPY WITH FINE ILLUMINATED MINIATURES. A HIGHLY UNUSUAL COPY COMPOSED OF PAPER AND VELLUM SHEETS. In her article on the 18th-century sale of Mainz incunabula by the Frankfurt Dominicans, Dr. Lotte Hellinga discusses this copy as a possible candidate that may have been sold by them. Only this copy and the one in the Library of Congress fit the description given by Humfrey Wanley in his 1721 catalouge of Harley's Latin books: 'Decretalia Gregroii Papae...half velum, half paper'. "However, neither of these copies has marks of ownership of the Frankfurt Dominicans nor any indication of having once formed part of the Harleian Library" (M. Nickson and L. Hellinga, "An Early Eighteenth-Century Sale of Mainz Incunabula by the Frankfurt Dominicans," in The German Book, 1450-1750, London: the British Library, 1995).

BMC I, 30 (IC.183-184); BSB-Ink. G-332; GW 11451; HC *7999; Pr 103*; Goff G-447.

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