Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologica 1496 Incunable
Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologica 1496 Incunable
Couldn't load pickup availability
Aquinas, Thomas (c. 1225-1274)
Prima [et secunda] secundae partis Summa Theologiae
[Nuremberg: Anton Koberger, 1496]
Folio.
A handsome copy of the complete Secunda Pars of Saint Thomas Aquinas’ monumental Summa Theologiae, comprising both the Prima Secundae and Secunda Secundae, fully rubricated and preserved complete in contemporary bindings. The volumes are further distinguished by the survival of extensive unidentified medieval and early printed binder’s waste, including manuscript fragments in German, Hebrew, and Latin from several late medieval parent manuscripts, together with an early printed leaf employed as pastedowns that appear to derive from the 1476 Milan edition of Paulus Venetus’ Expositio librorum naturalium Aristotelis (ISTC ip00211000), a somewhat unexpected survival in an evidently German binding which suggests the early circulation of Italian scholastic books within the German book trade. The Hebrew manuscript waste may speak to the recycling, and often, the targeted destruction or confiscation, of Jewish libraries in late medieval Southern Germany.
ISTC records 187 extant institutional holdings. However, complete survivals of the Secunda Pars, preserving both the Prima Secundae and Secunda Secundae together in contemporary bindings, are considerably less common than the overall census of institutional holdings might suggest, many recorded copies consisting of only one of the two constituent parts. Polish collections record 14 examples held, at least 3 of which include the complete Secunda Pars. The copy at the Biblioteka Jagiellońska is similar to the present example in consisting of just the complete Secunda Pars (per GW copy census records). Owing to its immense size, the Summa circulated primarily in individual parts, allowing students, clergy, and scholars to acquire and consult those sections most relevant to their needs.
The present copy contains the entirety of the Secunda Pars, generally regarded as the heart of Aquinas’ moral theology. The Prima Secundae addresses the ultimate end of human life, happiness, virtue, vice, law, and grace, and includes Aquinas’ celebrated treatment of natural law, one of the most influential texts in the history of Western ethical and political thought. The Secunda Secundae provides a systematic examination of the individual virtues and vices, including faith, hope, charity, prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance, and became one of the most frequently consulted sections of the Summa among medieval and early modern theologians, confessors, and preachers.
Printed by Anton Koberger, the most important printer and publisher in fifteenth-century Germany, this edition belongs to the mature period of one of Europe's largest and most influential printing enterprises. Koberger’s editions of scholastic and theological texts played a central role in the dissemination of late medieval learning throughout the Holy Roman Empire and beyond.
Provenance
- The binder is likely identifiable as Memmingen workshop K110 (cf. EBDB tools s011379; s011380; s011393).
- Sporadic contemporary marginalia, likely entered at Memmingen.
- Stadtbibliothek Memmingen; the volumes demonstrably entered the library before 1643, with contemporary shelf references in ink to the upper margins and later institutional stamps.
- Lawful deaccession kindly confirmed by the Stadtarchiv Memmingen circa 1868.
- Thereafter in German private collections before export to Canada.
- Recently exported from Canada to Poland.
Condition
An interesting assemblage of medieval manuscript and early printed binder’s waste survives throughout both volumes. In Volume I, the pastedowns incorporate leaves from an early printed book, seemingly identifiable as the 1476 Milan edition of Paulus Venetus’ Expositio librorum naturalium Aristotelis (ISTC ip00211000), beneath which survives a narrow strip from an unidentified Latin manuscript of c. 1425– 1475. Additional fragments from a vellum Hebrew manuscript in a cursive Ashkenazi script, c. 1375–1475, probably of German origin, are preserved after a8 and dd8. The same Hebrew manuscript appears to have been used in the construction of the backstrips of both volumes, although the concealed text cannot presently be examined. Volume II preserves further fragments of the same Latin manuscript beneath the pastedowns, together with a small fragment from what is plausibly a different Hebrew manuscript or a section of the aforementioned Hebrew manuscript in a substantially larger script. Also present are substantial remnants of a late medieval German vernacular manuscript in a neat Gothic cursive or Hybrida bookhand, probably c. 1450, preserved at both ends of the textblock and after AA8 and Tt6. Taken together, these fragments plausibly represent the greater part of a large folio leaf. Both parts collate as complete. Volume I retains the usually absent blank ee⁸. Very small loss to the corner of PP3, minor worming to the final few quires of Volume II. Textblocks lightly toned, with occasional contemporary marginal annotations throughout both volumes. Early shelf references to the upper margins of both title leaves and institutional stamps of the Stadtbibliothek Memmingen. Old German bookseller inscriptions in pencil to the front pastedowns. Internally exceptionally clean and fresh for a frequently consulted scholastic text, the volumes extensively rubricated throughout with alternating red and blue initials, several enhanced with attractive ornament and flourishing extensions.
Contemporary full calf over wooden boards, rubbed and worn. The German binding with the Hebrew manuscript binder’s waste suggests a binder working in a region with a historical Jewish presence, probably southern Germany. Original clasp mounts preserved, several retaining stamped German text; clasps lacking save for a small surviving fragment. Dampstaining to the upper fore-edges, not affecting the text. Both bindings structurally sound and holding firmly, with losses to the leather at the backstrips and along the joints.
[ISTC it00196000; Goff T196; Pell 1035; Polain(B) 3744; BMC II, 441; Bod-inc T164; Pr 2102; BSB-Ink T280; GW46440]
Share
