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GUALTERUS de Castellione (12th century)
Alexandri Magni regis Macedonum vita. Strasbourg: Reinhard Beck, 1513. Title with full border printed in red and black, ornamental initials from several sets (last leaf with marginal and neat internal tear). VD-16 G-3848. [Bound fifth with 7 other works listed below.]
Early 16th-century Sammelband of largely literary and secular texts, including the second edition of the 12th-century epic on Alexander the Great, the Alexandreis by Walter of Châtillon. Drawing principally on the biography of Curtius Rufus, Walter’s work influenced subsequent Alexander romances of Ulrich von Eschenbach and Rudolf von Ems, and was referenced by Chaucer in the Wife of Bath. ‘One of the high achievements of twelfth-century literature. … In artistry and intelligence it loses nothing by comparison to the first flowerings of European vernacular literature’ (Townsend, The Alexandreis 1996). VD-16 records only 8 copies, and no copies of any edition are recorded at auction in ABPC or RBH. It is joined by Gresemund’s poem on the mutilaton of a crucifix by an actor; the life of Constantine the Great, translated from the Greek by the great German humanist, Johannes Reuchlin, letters by classical authors Symmachus and Pliny the Younger, and the literary forgery of letters attributed to Sultan Mahomet II by Laudivius Zacchia. The remaining works in the volume are:
GRESEMUND, Dietrich (1477-1512). Carmen de Historia Violate Crucis, with commentary by Hieronymus Grebwiler. Strasbourg: Reinhard Beck, 1514. With final blank f8, large title woodcut of the Crucifixion, criblé initials. VD-16 ZV-27678
GERSON, Johannes (1363-1429). De Passione domini. Basel: Michael Furter, 1515. With final blank C8, large title woodcut of the Crucifixion, 11 small Passion cuts, initials and tailpiece. VD-16 B-4710.
CONSTANTINUS I – Constantinus Magnus Romanorum Imperator, translated by Johannes Reuchlin. Tübingen: Thomas Anselm, August 1513. Greek and roman type, one symbol printed in text. VD-16 C-4938.
JACOBUS DE GRUYTRODE (d. c.1472). Lavacrum conscientiae. Metz: Kaspar Hochfeder, 1514. Adams J-40.
PLINIUS SECUNDUS, Gaius Caecilius (c.61-c.112). Epistolae. Edited by Philippus Beroaldus. Venice: Albertinus Vercellensis, 10 April 1501. Some Greek type, historiated woodcut initial (outer sheet of quire k [4 leaves) are replaced with 8 leaves of contemporary manuscript, light stains in last leaf). Adams P-1534.
SYMMACHUS, Quintus Aurelius (c.345-c.405). Epistolae familiares. – MAHOMET II [attributed to, Laudivius ZACCHIA]. In epistolas Turci magni. Strasbourg: Knobloch, 1511. With final blank B6, historiated and Lombard initials (small ink stain on title). VD-16 S-10391 and Z-18; Göllner, Turcica 47.
BARTOLOMAEUS Coloniensis (c.1460-c.1516). Dialogus mythologicus. [N.p.: n.d but possibly Tübingen: Thomas Anselm, 1511]. It is virtually, but not exactly, identical to VD-16 B-541, which additionally has a final quire E4. Adams B-268 may or may not be this edition; it calls for a final quire E6.
8 works on one volume, quarto (209 x 150mm). (A few wormholes, occasional light dampstain, more prominent at upper corners of final two works.) Contemporary German half pigskin over wooden boards, tooled in blind with various flower-head tools, spine lettered in ink, old label at foot (very lightly wormed); modern cloth case. Provenance: contents written in an early hand, repeated in an 18th-century hand inscription deleted from first title – ‘Lepidissima hystoria’ [‘a most witty story/history’] written in an early hand on the title of the Alexandreis – Casperus Filius (inscription dated 25 January 1789).
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