Commentaria sancti Thome super libros metaphysice. Interpretatio in Metaphysicam Aristotelis. Venice: Simon Bevilaqua for Alexander Calcedonius, 20 December 1493, folio.
THE VERY RARE SECOND EDITION OF ST. THOMAS AQUINAS' INFLUENTIAL COMMENTARY ON ARISTOTLE'S METAPHYSICS.
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This is the second edition of St. Thomas Aquinas important commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics, following the first of 1480. This work was highly influential throughout the medieval scholastic period, and here is a lovely late medieval imprint which is, while well represented institutionally, extremely rare in commerce and notably has several in-text woodcut diagrams throughout of a mathematical/scientific/astronomical nature - something very scarcely encountered in incunabula.
Aquinas’ work marked a turning point in medieval philosophy, as he masterfully reconciled the Christian intellectual tradition with Aristotelian thought. His adoption of Aristotelian metaphysics, moving beyond the earlier Platonist (and non-Greco-Roman) frameworks, formed the philosophical foundation for much of Catholic theology from the 13th century onwards, notably concerning the Sacraments, especially the understanding of the Real Presence in the Eucharist. Beyond theology, Aristotelian Thomism is one of the intellectual foundations of the scientific enterprise itself, with Aquinas arguing that reason and observation of the natural world leads to a greater understanding of God, complementing revealed theology. It is also in Aquinas' Commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics that one finds his apologetic arguments for God's existence, the nature of the soul, ethics and morality, and his concept of emergence.
This is essentially the earliest obtainable edition of this most significant work as we cannot trace a copy of the first edition in commerce. Another copy of this second edition sold at Christie's 6th June 2007 lot 134 for £3,360 (~£5,700 inflation adjusted).
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Size: 220 x 307 mm (approx.)
Condition:
[a-z6, *6, **6, ***4, (1)]
Collates as complete, 154 of 154 leaves, s & t gatherings misbound in order (i.e. t1-6 then s1-6). 16th century limp vellum, ink title to spine. Binding detached from page block, first and last few quires loose but extant. Some neat writing to front of binding in Latin, undated. Some dampstaining in bottom marginal space throughout then more dampstaining across the leaves towards the rear of the text. Sporadic early marginalia in places. A few small holes to some leaves. Tape affixed to the final three textual leaves, final leaf laid down on later paper but preserving most of the original leaf, including the colophon and most of the printer's device. Else largely bright and clean through the text.
[ISTC it00246000; USTC 990447; Goff T-246; Bod-inc T-159; HC 1509; GW M46202]
