Alexander de Villa Dei, Doctrinale, Nuremberg, 1495, contemporary stamped calf

Alexander de Villa Dei and Johannes de Garlandia

A fifteenth-century volume containing uncommon editions of all four parts of the Doctrinale and a grammatical work, comprising:

ALEXANDER DE VILLA DEI. Doctrinale (Pars I [with commentary by Gerardus Zutphaniensis]. Nuremberg: Anton Koberger, 1495, 130 leaves, a-h⁸ i⁴ k-n⁸ o⁶ p-r⁸, 45-46 lines plus headline, gothic type, red initials, initial strokes and underlining

ALEXANDER DE VILLA DEI. Doctrinale (Pars II [with commentary by Gerardus Zutphaniensis]. Nuremberg: [Anton Koberger], 11 November 1495, 124 leaves, A-N⁸ O⁴ P-Q⁸, 45-46 lines, gothic type

ALEXANDER DE VILLA DEI. Doctrinale (Partes III-IV [with commentary by Gerardus Zutphaniensis]. [Nuremberg]: Anton Koberger, [c. 1495], 48 leaves, Aa-Ff⁸, 46 lines, gothic type, red initials

JOHANNES DE GARLANDIA. Composita verborum [with commentary by Johannes Synthen]. Cologne: Heinrich Quentell, 1496, 32 leaves, A-E⁶ D⁸, 46 lines of commentary plus headline, gothic type, woodcut illustration on title-page of a teacher at a lectern, coloured in red

4 works in one volume, 4to (209 x 142mm.), some deckle edges, contemporary German blind-stamped calf over wooden boards, including a small square stamp of a centaur, single clasp, index tabs, later lettering-pieces on spine, occasional light dampstaining, lower pastedown slightly defective, lacking bosses and strap, upper joint weak

Some Latin manuscript verse has been written on both pastedowns in an early hand; the upper pastedown begins with the four-line epigram "Sunt tria quae vere faciunt [me] sepe dolere...".

LITERATURE:

ISTC ia00444750 (listing 6 copies, none in UK), ia00451850 (listing 5 copies, none in UK), ia00454550 (listing 3 copies, none in UK); ig00080700 (listing 3 copies, none in UK)

PROVENANCE:

early ownership inscription on title-page obscured; Benedictine monastery of St Godehard, Hildesheim, early inscription on first title-page; Ampleforth Abbey library, bookplate and ink stamp