Sermones sancti Augustini ad heremitas nonnulli ad sacerdotes suos ad aliquos alios. Venetiis per Merchiorem Sessam et Petrum de Rauannis socios Anno dni 1517 die 26 Augusti.
Some Sermons of Saint Augustine for Hermits, some for their priests, and some for others. Venice: Melchior Sessa and Pietro de Raunis, 26 August 1517.
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A 16th century Venetian edition of the notorious pseudo-Augustinian Sermones ad heremitas, one of the most widely circulated medieval forgeries. Purporting to be sermons written by Augustine of Hippo for hermits, their priests, and others, the collection was in fact compiled between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries, and was designed to bolster the Augustinian Hermits in their long-running dispute with the Augustinian Canons over the true origins of their order.
The Sermones first appeared in print at Modena in 1477 under Balthasar de Struciis and rapidly became a bestseller, with more than a dozen incunable and early sixteenth-century editions. Though their authenticity was decisively rejected in the seventeenth century by the Maurists, they were for centuries treated as genuine, deeply influencing the medieval and early modern understanding of Augustine and serving as an important preaching aid for clergy and monastic communities.
This edition was produced by the Venetian partners Melchiorre Sessa and Pietro de Rauanis, members of the prominent Sessa dynasty of printers, famed for their devotional and theological output and for their distinctive printer’s device featuring a cat with a mouse (here lacking as it would have been on the title leaf for this edition which is not extant in this copy). Like earlier editions, the book would have been intended for wide clerical use, and surviving copies are uncommon, having been heavily employed by priests and friars.
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Size: 104 x 150 mm (approx.)
Condition:
[A-R8 (-A1)]
Lacks title leaf else collates as complete. Scattered spotting, text block mildly toned throughout, some minor staining, a little dampstaining. Small hole to A2 touching the illustration of St. Augustine, pictured. Stain to N3-P4 over some text but not losing sense. Small worm track from R2-8 in bottom blank marginal space not touching any text or signatures.
Bound in circa 18th century card boards covered in paper extensively written over in Italian including to front pastedown (not to the rear), text unidentified and unattributed. Some printed music binder's waste visible underneath. Backstrip starting to come loose at the rear hinges, but the binding is attached with the boards attached to the cloth spine present.
[Edit 16 CNCE 55086].
