Jacobus de Voragine, Legenda aurea, Strassburg, 1479, contemporary calf, Dr Kloss's copy

JACOBUS DE VORAGINE

Legenda aurea sanctorum, sive Lombardica historia. Strassburg: [Georg Husner], 1479

Chancery folio (298 x 205mm.), 402 leaves (of 404), double column, gothic type, red and blue initials, remains of early manuscript quiring, contemporary German stamped calf over wooden boards (including two octagonal stamps of Agnus Dei and a double-headed eagle), two clasps, lacking initial blank and [a]7 (from the table), occasional light browning or staining, a few marginal paper repairs or tears, [C]5 torn into text without loss, [F]1 torn and repaired, [AA]4-5 damaged and repaired, last leaf repaired at edges, rebacked, lacking both straps, binding slightly rubbed

One of numerous fifteenth-century editions of the Golden Legend; there is a group of 38 additional lives added into this edition, some of which had previously appeared in earlier editions by Husner and Sensenschmidt, but a few appear here apparently for the first time, including Thomas Aquinas.

LITERATURE:

ISTC ij00092000

PROVENANCE:

Dr Georg Kloss, bookplate, sale, Sotheby's, 26 May 1835, lot 4002, with his manuscript notes on verso of flyleaf; sale, Sotheby's New York, 11 December 1990, lot 425