AUGUSTIN (Saint).

De civitate dei]. Quintus [- Sextus] tomus operum D. Aurelii Augustini Hipponensis episcopi. Venice, ad signum Spei, 1551. 2 volumes in one in-4, brown calf, blind-stamped on aisle, framed with fillets and two large scrolls with foliage, central panel decorated with a shell in the corners and a bird repeated on the sides, three medallions in the center vertically arranged representing the portrait of a saint and the cross of Christ, traces of clasps, spine with nerves decorated with the emblems of the passion, title in ink calligraphy on the side edge (Binding of the time). Very rare edition published by the workshop of Giovanni della Speranza and his heirs, active in Venice between 1544 and 1588. The fifth and sixth volumes are the only ones of the eleven in this edition, containing the complete major work of St. Augustine, the De civitate dei, and part of his polemical writings. Old handwritten inscription at the foot of one of the titles, several paragraphs formerly crossed out in pen. BEAUTIFUL CONTEMPORARY BINDING DECORATED WITH EMBLEMS OF THE PASSION OF CHRIST. Missing leaf A4 (end of the preface) in the fifth volume, hole filled on a title, marginal wetness on several leaves. Rubbing to the binding.