Beschreibung:

JOHANNES Grammaticus (fl. 15th century?). Comprehensorium . Valencia: [Lambert Palmart,] 1475. Chancery 2 (285 x 185mm). Collation: [1-6 1 0 . 8 7 1 0 8 1 2 9 8 10-11 1 0 12 8 13 1 0 14-18 8 19-21 1 0 22 8 23-24 1 0 25 8 26-27 1 0 28-29 8 30-33 1 0 34 8 35 1 0 36 1 2] (1/1 blank, 1/2r author's preface, text, 36/10r colophon, 36/10v quire register, 36/11-12 blank). 331 leaves (of 334, without first and final two blank leaves). 41 lines, double column. Type: 1:102R. 2- to 6-line initial spaces, two with guide-letter. (Lower margin and outer corners of first leaf restored with several lines at bottom of outer column replaced in pen facsimile, last leaf similarly restored with lower text, including colophon and part of quire register, replaced in pen facsimile, damp/waterstain at outer corners or fore-margins in first quire and in many leaves from quire 19 restored with a few letters at beginning or ends of line replaced in pen facsimile, small stains, repaired tears in about 5 leaves, a few lightly-printed lines reinforced in ink, pale blue stain in 3 leaves.) FINELY BOUND BY BRUGALLA IN 1948 in maroon morocco gilt, tooled to an early 16th-century style, red-orange morocco doublures elaborately tooled in gilt and blind to a mudejar design, burgundy silk endleaves, gilt edges, half brown morocco chemise lined with reversed kid, slipcase edged in brown morocco and lined with tan kid, signed and dated on front doublure. Provenance : occasional early pen trials and other annotations, including two verses from Thomas Aquinas's hymn 'Pange lingua' and one naming a Mr. Gaspar de la Sende of Barcelona. FIRST AND ONLY EDITION. It is also THE FIRST DATED BOOK PRINTED IN SPAIN, PRINTED AT THE FIRST PRESS AT VALENCIA. Although no printer is named in the colophon, its types are those used two years later in books printed by Lambert Palmart. Palmart, a German, was educated at Paris, becoming Master of Arts in 1469, just prior to the establishment of the first press in Paris, at the Sorbonne, in 1470. He founded a press at Valencia possibly as early as 1473 and almost certainly by 1474, since one of his editions is a collection of hymns written on the occasion of a poetical contest judged at Valencia on 25 March 1474 (cf. Witten and BMC). Palmart's thereby became the third press operating on the Iberian Peninsula, following anonymous presses at Segovia and Barcelona, which may have been established as early as 1472 and 1473, respectively. Palmart primarily printed texts directed at the municipal school of arts (becoming the university of Valencia in 1500); his printing programme thus closely resembled that of the early Paris and Oxford presses, similarly serving a university audience. The Comprehensorium is the largest book printed at Palmart's early press. It is an encyclopedia derived, as the author states in his preface, from Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae , Balbus's Catholicon , Papias of Pavia's Elementarium , and Uguccio of Pisa's Derivationes . Like those works, it contains much information beyond a mere definition of words. Thus it describes animals, plants and herbs, often giving their medicinal use, famous men and women, both real and mythical, and geographical places. Nothing is known of its author, although the occasional use of the vernacular and evidence of Arabic influence attest to a Spanish origin. A Catalan form is given to define a pilgrim to Rome ('romiatge'); 'Rumor' is defined 'vulgo dicitur novallas'; and 'salamalach' is given as a word of greeting, presumably derived from the Arabic 'salaam alayk'. RARE. The only recorded copy to have come on the market this century is that offered by Ludwig Rosenthal in his catalogue 116, 'Incunables espaols', in c.1908; it is now in the Hispanic Society of America. The present copy is one of only 14 copies recorded, 9 of which are in Spanish libraries. Outside Spain, only two copies are in America (Hispanic Society of America Library and Pierpont Morgan Library) and two are in E