2 - [INCUNABULUM]. [MARTINUS POLONUS (Martin of TROPPAU, known as Martin of Opava)]

[INCUNABULUM]. [MARTINUS POLONUS (Martin of TROPPAU, known as Martin of Opava)] [Margarita Decreti, seu Tabula Martiniana]. [Strasbourg, printer of the *Casus breves Decretalium*, 1493]. Large 8vo in small folio format (leaf 20 x 28 cm and 13.7 x 20.8 cm column width), (97) ff., signed a2-b-q6-r2, Gothic type in two columns of 52 lines. Havana-colored calfskin on period wooden boards, ribbed spine (missing ff. a(1) (half-title) and r3–7 (including the colophon) and 1f. blank, the front cover of the binding is missing, a(8) is detached, and the first quire is slightly unbound; minor worm damage, sometimes very fine, on the margins or a few discreet holes in the text without significant loss). Incunabulum composed by the Dominican Martin of Troppau (1279), chaplain and penitentiary to the pope; a 13th-century chronicler, he died as archbishop of Gniezno (Gnesen) in Poland. A decorated copy, featuring on the first page of the text a large painted initial (the letter I) in shades of blue on a background of liquid gold with small motifs stamped on the gold. Accompanied by a large, polychrome floral illumination running lengthwise along the lower margin of the folio, featuring fruit, scrolls, and foliage. The copy is rubricated in red at each new capital letter of the Table, with calligraphic letters. An alphabetical index of canon law intended to facilitate consultation of the Decree of Gratian, this analytical table, the Tabula Martiniana, constitutes an important reference tool for medieval canonists and jurists. The absence of quire j does not constitute a gap; the text continues seamlessly from quire i to quire k, consistent with the digitized copy from the Fondo Antigo at the University of Seville. A single copy is held at the CCFr (Le Mans). While editions can be found in WorldCat, some have an uncertain date and a different place of printing (Nuremberg), at least for those that appear to have the same colophon. Provenance: from the library of Pierre Séjourné. Pierre Séjourné (1930–1993), a Parisian bookseller and lover of bookbindings, a flutist, and an enthusiast of literature and classical music, was as much a part of Parisian artistic and literary circles as he was of the world of the decorative arts and their schools, thanks to his uncle, the architect and academician Albert Laprade. Also an author and actor, he devoted himself to writing and performing his own plays, which were staged primarily in the Paris region. HC, 10847. Polain, 2626. Pell-Pol, 7623. ISTC, im00327000.