Beschreibung:

AUGUSTINUS, Aurelius (354-430, Saint). Epistolae . [Strassburg: Johann Mentelin, not after 1471]. Royal 2 o (397 x 295 mm). Collation: [1-5 1 0 6 8 7-8 6 9-16 1 0 17 8 18 6 19-24 1 0 25 8 26 6 27 8 28 1 0 29 8] text, 29/8 blank). 264 leaves. 50 lines, double columns. Type 2 a:112 bG. 8/6 with only one 45-line column printed as col. 2 on the verso; the recto of the leaf and col. 1 of the verso are blank. One 7-line, many 4- to 2-line initial spaces. Lombard initials, paragraph signs and capital strokes supplied in red. On, Basel illumination consisting of a green initial D on square ground of burnished gold with mauve infilling, scrolling arabesque border in mauve, blue, green and yellow incorporating the coat-of-arms of Hilprand Brandenburg, azure an ox argent . Pinholes visible on most leaves (1, or 2 close together between columns, in extreme upper margins, 2 close together between columns in extreme lower margins). Some deckle edges preserved. Traces of manuscript quiring. Additional blank 2-leaf quire bound at beginning, additional 4-leaf quire containing a contemporary manuscript table bound at end. All of quire 6 and the bifolium 25/2.7 printed on slightly smaller paper with most deckle edges preserved. (Many leaves with some offset or smudging from the print shop; printing flaws to, 5/8v, due to poor inking; double impression on 15/2v; 4/3, 4/9,, 15/9, cancels; the blank outer half of 8/6 cut away, faint dampstain to extreme outer margins of first ca. 15 leaves; a few tiny mostly marginal wormholes;and 10 disjunct.) Binding : contemporary blind-tooled alum-tawed pigskin binding over partially bevelled wooden boards from the "Meister" bindery in Basel, each cover divided by quadruple or quintuple fillets into two concentric frames and a rectangular central panel, the latter divided into three narrow vertical panels, the central panel on each cover tooled with repeated impressions of a banderole containing the word MEISTER, the flanking panels with impressions of a large knot-work tool in a square frame, the inner frame with repeated impressions of a rectangular tool apparently representing plants growing out of waves, the outer frame with two rows of a small quatrefoil within a square frame (cf. Goldschmidt 5), two chased brass clasps and catchplates incorporating the word "Ave", plain brass corner protectors, vertical strips from a gothic cursive manuscript as sewing guards (uniformly rubbed, some tiny wormholes, upper joint cracked at top, labels removed from front cover and spine); modern cloth drop-back box. Provenance : HILPRAND BRANDENBURG (d. 1514): illuminated coat-of-arms in border ), his hand-colored woodcut bookplate, contemporary Buxheim inscription recording his donation ( Liber Cartusiensium in Buchshaim prope Memmingen proveniens a confratre nostro Hilprando Brandenburg de Bibraco, donato sacerdote, continens librum epistolarum beati Augustini. Oretur pro eo, et pro quibus desideravit ) -- Buxheim, Charterhouse: contents note, donation inscription, armorial library stamp -- copious 16th-century reader's notes to letter 116 -- Graf von Ostein -- Graf von Waldbott-Bassenheim: sale, Carl Förster, Munich, 1883 -- oblong blue-bordered perforated label with pencilled number 38 inside back cover -- Paul Schmidt: bookplate -- E.Ph. Goldschmidt: bookplate -- [Sotheby's London, 16 December 1964, lot 270, to Maggs] -- Eric Sexton (1902-1980): bookplate; sale, Christie's New York, 8 April 1981, lot 163 (to Lathrop Harper). FIRST EDITION of this collection of letters by one of the most influential Fathers of the Latin Church. In a printed advertisement for this edition, Mentelin praised the letters as a work in which "the skill of human eloquence resounds, many difficult and obscure passages of sacred scripture are clearly explained, heresies and deviations from the right faith are crushed with the solid hammer of truth, rules for right living are set forth, virtues are demonstrated, and vices are justly reproved