Astesanus de Ast, Summa de casibus conscentiae, Basel, not after 1476, contemporary pigskin

From the Collection of the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary

ASTESANUS DE AST

Summa de casibus conscentiae. [Basel: Michael Wenssler and Bernhard Richel, not after 1476]

Royal folio (388 × 290mm.), 432 leaves (for a detailed collation please see the printed catalogue), double column, 61-62 lines, gothic type, two woodcut initials, red and blue lombard initials (larger initials with red penwork decoration), red and blue paragraph marks and capital strokes, contemporary German binding (Wolfgang Herolt, active in Erfurt 1471-1515, EDBD w000958) of blind-stamped pigskin over square wooden boards, brass catchplates and shoes, first and last few leaves soiled and with marginal tears (slightly touching text on first leaf), marginal dampstaining and repairs, one quire bound out of order (the correct sequence indicated by early manuscript annotations), lacking bosses, head of spine defective, foot of spine torn, some wormholes in binding, lower board defective at corners

Fifth edition of the giant confessional summa of the early fourteenth-century Franciscan Astesanus de Ast; the four preceding editions were printed in Strassburg by Johann Mentelin and Heinrich Eggestein, 1469-1474. Printing of this edition was evenly divided between Wenssler, who printed quires 1-21, setting to 62 lines per column, and Richel, who printed quires 22 to 43, setting to 61 lines per column; their source text was one of Mentelin’s editions. Both used the same paper stock. The dating of 1476 comes from the binding of a copy in Augsburg.

LITERATURE:

ISTC ia01164000

PROVENANCE:

Observant Franciscans of Dorsten, Westphalia, seventeenth-century inscription on first leaf, "Liber bibliothecae FF. Minorum Conventus Durstensis, anathema auferenti"; bibliographical note in French pasted to inside front cover; James Atkinson (1759-1839), bookplate, sale, Sotheby's, 16 December 1851, lot 231 (as types of Mentelin), 4s 6d, to Lincoln (extract from sale catalogue pasted to inside front cover); Mayer Sulzberger (1843-1923), bookplate; Jewish Theological Seminary, bookplate and ink stamp