ANTONIUS DE VERCELLIS (d.1483). Sermones quadragesimales de XII mirabilibus Christianae fidei excellentiis. With additions by Ludovicus Brognolo. Venice: Joannes and Gregorius de Gregoriis de Forlivio [for Alexander Calcedonius], 16 February 1.

ANTONIUS DE VERCELLIS (d.1483). Sermones quadragesimales de XII mirabilibus Christianae fidei excellentiis. With additions by Ludovicus Brognolo. Venice: Joannes and Gregorius de Gregoriis de Forlivio [for Alexander Calcedonius], 16 February 1.

Super-chancery 4° (199 x 152mm). 4-leaf manuscript tabula inserted after flyleaf. Gothic type, incipit printed in red, printer's device, initial spaces with guide-letter. (Title and last leaf supplied in facsimile, some staining, spotting, marginal worming, a few repaired tears, headlines trimmed.) Modern vellum, blue and red speckled edges. Provenance: flyleaves at end with handwritten notes in Italian (see below).

FIRST EDITION. The rear flyleaves contain extensive notes written in a 17th-century hand. They are a summary of some chapters, possibly from Theophrastus' work, dealing with the properties and medicinal applications of stones - the latter covering ailments ranging from sore throats to gallstones. They list the 12 different types of emeralds, (the best, it tells us, being from Sicily) and a description, taken from Theophrastus, of the King of Babylon's gifts of emerald to the King of Egypt. H *15949; BMC V, 343; GW 2260; Goff A-918.