De Civitate Dei by Saint Augustine. Rome: Ulrich Han, 1474, folio.
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A remarkable very early edition of Augustine's magnum opus, De Civitate Dei (The City of God), printed in Rome. This book is a cornerstone of Western thought and is one of the most influential works ever written, having a huge impact on the Christian world, particularly as it pertains to Western philosophy concerning free will, original sin, divine grace, and of course the political actions of Western countries throughout the medieval period, as it was in this work that Augustine argues that it is the duty of the Roman Catholic Church to oppose all things associated with the Devil, including by military means. It was a fundamental work to the transmission of Platonic philosophy, particularly concerning criticisms of Paganism, becoming all the more significant and heavily cited in the late medieval and early modern periods. Indeed, its influence continued beyond the medieval period and its writings form part of the official doctrine of the Catholic Church today as stated in paragraph 13 of the Second Vatican Council's Gaudium et spes. De Civitate Dei was also of course the foundation of Protestant theology. PMM remarks that "both Luther and Calvin took Augustine as the foundation of Protestantism alongside the Bible itself."
EXTREMELY RARE. ISTC records 41 holding institutions, but this is the only copy to be offered to the market since the last in 1954 and so represents a very rare opportunity to acquire this important very early edition of Augustine's magnum opus from the significant but short-lived press of Han & Chardella.. They were only active between 1470 and 1474 but were immensely productive and released a significant number of titles. This was their only printing of De Civitate Dei. An elegant copy with beautiful contemporary marginalia which will profitably reward any study concerning the interpretation of Augustine in the late medieval period and the period leading up to the Protestant Reformation.
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Size: 265 x 392 mm (approx.)
Condition:
Textually complete, with 261 of 264 leaves, lacking the two blanks and the final leaf (Registrum huius libri) as often, but with the colophon extant. No title leaf is called for in this edition. Some small pencil ticks to the preliminaries with leaf numbers provided in the same hand through the preliminaries, and subsequently in an early hand for the main text. This was printed without signatures. Some very fine manicules in red throughout, as well as small exceptionally neat marginalia in a contemporary hand, frequently referencing other important writers (St. Jerome, Cicero, Lactantius, Anaxagoras, etc) showing that this was a very well-read early reader. Corners restored to the first few leaves and some similar leaf edge repairs to leaves 82-88, no text loss. Generally very bright and clean throughout, wide margins, beautiful early Roman typography, some occasional dampstaining and a few paper flaws (leaves 129-132), some very sporadic light spotting. The full text is without loss of sense throughout. Some printed spelling errors have been corrected by a contemporary hand. A few capitals are provided in a contemporary hand (e.g. leaf 195).
Full vellum binding with an attractive tooled morocco label laid down to the upper spine which conveniently gives the author, title, place of printing, and date. Both boards securely attached, the binding is secure, and stands without shelf lean. Page block securely attached without sagging. Two blanks provided at the front with one at the rear (contemporary with the binding), the second preliminary blank has a watermark in the lower corner which dates the binding to approximately the early 20th century. Some light pencil inscriptions to ffep recto, some partially erased, one gives a price of £88 in 1926.
[Goff A1234; USTC 997436; GW 2878; ISTC ia01234000; Hain 2050].
