Paratus, Sermones de tempore et de sanctis, [Strassburg, 1490], contemporary blind-tooled pigskin, Brandenburg-Buxheim copy

Chancery folio (282 x 201 mm). Gothic type, 51 lines and headline, double column. collation: a⁴ b-d⁸ e⁶ f-i^6.8 k-l⁶ m⁸ n-o⁶ p-q⁸ r-s⁶ t⁸ v-z^8.6 A-F^8.6: 199 leaves (of 200; without final blank). Capital spaces, with printed guide-letters, 3- to 5-line Lombard initials supplied in red, paragraph marks, capital strokes, underlinings in red. (Some small wormholes at beginning, mostly marginal but occasionally catching letters, paper flaw on n4 affecting printing on a few lines slightly, some minor marginal dampstains, corner chipped on y1.)

binding: Contemporary German blind-tooled pigskin (294 x 210 mm), probably by the Weissenau Premonstratensian bindery (EBDB w000056; Kyriss Shop 35), active in Ravensburg 1478-1514, triple fillets around sides, frame containing repeated rosette, Agnus Dei tool at each intersecting corner, inner border with a roll of scrolling foliage, in centre 4 triangular compartments formed by intersecting triple fillets, each containing Agnus Dei stamp, title in ink on upper cover, 2 brass catches stamped with "mia" (Maria), plain edges, longitudinal title on head and fore-edge. (Binding slightly soiled and rubbed, with some wormholes, lacking straps.)

provenance: Hilprand Brandenburg (d.1514), his hand-coloured woodcut bookplate, contemporary Buxheim inscription recording his donation ("Liber Cartusiensium in Buchhaim prope Memmingen proveniens a confratre nostro domino Hilprando Brandenburg de Bibraco, donato sacerdotc. Oretur pro eo et pro quibus desideravit") — Buxheim, Charterhouse, contents note, donation inscription, armorial library stamp on lower margin of a2, shelf mark M.389. on spine label — Graf von Ostein — Graf von Waldbott-Bassenheim, sale, Carl Forster, Munich, 1883 — Maggs Bros, Catalogues 533 (1930, item 107) and 656 (1938, item 320) — Estelle Doheny, booklabel, sale, Christies New York, 14 December 2001, lot 50. acquisition: Purchased in 2002 from H.P. Kraus. references: USTC 747691; ISTC ip00103500