Missale Pragensis, Leipzig, Conrad Kachelofen, 1498, coloured, contemporary calf

MISSAL. USE OF PRAGUE

Missale Pragensis. Leipzig: Conrad Kachelofen, 1498

Median folio (354 x 219mm.), 344 leaves (of 355), [*¹⁰] A-P⁸ Q⁶ [R-S⁸ T⁶ V⁸] a⁸⁺¹ b-z⁸ [**⁴], double column, 31 lines plus headlines, gothic type, printed in red and black throughout, hand-coloured woodcut on title-page, hand-coloured full-page woodcut of the four Prague saints on verso of title-page, 6-line initial on A1 and a1 in green and grey on a gold ground, other 6-line initials in red and blue, 2-line lombard initials printed in red, typeset music, contemporary blind-stamped pigskin over wooden boards (a Leipzig binding, perhaps EBDB w003615?), lettered "Missale" at head of upper cover, two clasps, manuscript fragments in binding, stubs of index tabs, lacking M3 and M6 (stubs visible) and quire [V⁸] (Canon of the Mass, printed on vellum) and blank leaf z8, v4 lacking lower half of leaf (with blank ruled paper supplied), y1-2 transposed, lower sections of y2-4 with text replaced in manuscript, title-page repaired at edges and slightly soiled, A1 torn and repaired at edges, other marginal tears and repairs, O7 torn at foot, Q5-6 damaged and repaired with some sections of text covered with replacement manuscript text, a few small wormholes at foot, i6 with crude repair at foot, rebacked and repaired at corners, pigskin soiled or stained, lacking both straps, lacking five round bosses on each cover

RARE. ISTC records 10 copies of this edition. Unlike earlier liturgical printing, Kachelofen's books were not printed under the auspices of a bishop or similar, but were produced on a purely commercial basis.

LITERATURE:

ISTC im00686000; Weale-Bohatta 798; Meyer-Baer 109

PROVENANCE:

Hauswedell & Nolte (Hamburg), sale, 1978