AUGUSTINE, DE TRINITATE; DE CIVITATE DEI, BASEL, 1489, LATER PIGSKIN

De Trinitate. [Basel]: Johann Amerbach, 1489, 86 leaves, a-d8 e-k6.8 l-m6, double column, 54-55 lines plus headline, 66 lines for the index (leaves m3v-m6v) and poem "Equora si penetrat Cyclops latera ardua necdum / Tingens oceanum si brevis urna capit" (leaf m6v), gothic type, 3-6 line initial spaces with small guide-letters at the centre De civitate dei [with commentary by Thomas Waleys and Nicolaus Trivet]. Basel: Johann Amerbach, 13 February 1489, 268 leaves, a10 b-p8 q-y A-I6.8 K-L6 M8 N6 O8, double column, 54 lines of text and 63-65 of commentary and index plus headline, gothic type, woodcut vignette on leaf a1v, 2- to 9-line initial spaces with small guide-letters at the centre 2 works in one volume, Median folio (304 x 220mm.), early seventeenth-century blind-tooled pigskin over wooden boards, manuscript title and number 1217 written on paper slips pasted onto four spine compartments, lacking both straps

Vitus Carolus (Vitus Karl; fl. 1621-1637), doctor in theology, a student in Eismerzell in 1621 and then parson at the Spitalkirche in Dillingen, at Holkzheim b. Ulm in 1627, and at Höchstädt in 1637, his inscription "Ex lib. M. Viti Caroli s. Ulmae co-emptis 1627" on the first leaf of De civitate Dei, an identical ownership note found in a copy of Thomas Aquinas’ Glossa continua super evangelia, Venice: Bonetus Locatellus for Octavianus Scotus, 4 June 1493, and a copy of Gregory I, Moralia, sive Expositio in Job, Basel, Nicolaus Kesler, 1496 (Oxford, Bodleian Library, Inc. c. 14.1493.3 and Auct. 5Q 4.36 respectively); Franz Töpsl (1711-1796), provost of Polling, diocese of Augsburg in Bavaria, Augustinian Canons, SS. Jacobus, Salvator and S. Crux, his usual book-plate removed from the upper pastedown; Augustinian Canons of Polling; the Royal Library, Munich, sold as a duplicate, "Duplum" inscribed in dark brown ink on upper pastedown and "S. I. N. 119-353 op. I; 354 op. II" marked in pencil on upper flyleaf. Eight incunables formerly owned by Vitus Carolus and brought to Polling by Töpsl (1711-1796) are still at the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (see in particular 2 Inc.c.a. 2400 d; 2 Inc.c.a.3490a, 4 Inc.c.a.822a; 4 Inc.c.a. 1004, with almost identical decoration; 2 Inc.c.a. 1757 m, with same stylised flower stamped in black ink at centre of the upper margin of the front pastedown; 2 Inc.c.a. 2029 and 2 Inc.c.a. 1107 with similar numbers marked the verso of the upper flyleaf).

ISTC ia01343000 & ia01243000

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

A CRISP COPY of the first two editions of Augustine’s works printed by Johann Amerbach in Basel in 1489. His edition of the De Trinitate was the second printed edition of Augustine’s tract on the Trinity. The woodcut representation of Augustine at his desk and the battle between Babylon and Syon on the verso of the title page of De civitate Dei is the first known work attributed to the Master of Haintz-Narr, the anonymous woodcutter responsible for a number of woodcut illustrations in Sebastian Brant’s Das Narrenschiff, Basel, Johann Bergmann, de Olpe, 11 February 1494 (see lot 106 for a later edition).