1-2 - (Mainz Incunabulum) - [BONIFACE VIII]. SEXTUS DECRETALIUM CUM GLOSSIS JOHANNIS ANDREAE…

(Mainz Incunabulum) - [BONIFACE VIII]. SEXTUS DECRETALIUM CUM GLOSSIS JOHANNIS ANDREAE… Moguntiae, (Mainz) by Petrus Schoeffer, January 9, 1476. In folio (405 x 280 mm), 162 leaves, wooden boards covered with cold-stamped sowhide, featuring a geometric pattern of interlaced diamonds framed by palmettes, with copper corners and cabochons on the covers; modern endpapers (4 Lupiana??? signatures cold-stamped in a stylized banner on the covers, no. 63 at the end). (contemporary binding) A very rare edition, one of the oldest of the famous decretals of Boniface VIII, [Benedetto Gætano] (1228–1303), one of the most famous and passionate pontiffs of the Middle Ages. It is accompanied by commentaries by Giovanni d’Andrea (1275?–1348), professor of canon law at the University of Bologna. A superb Gothic print in red and black, in two columns, with a substantial gloss in small type framing the canonical text. The copy is entirely rubricated in red and blue, with a large filigree initial in red and blue at the beginning of the text. The last leaf is adorned with the red-printed mark of Pierre Schoeffer and Johann Fust, placed below a remarkable and striking announcement printed in Latin: “The most famous work, the Sixth Book of the Decretals, has been happily completed in the noble city of Mainz—which the glorious God has deigned to favor and enlighten more than other nations on earth with the free gift of the ingenious art of printing — not with ink and a metal, reed, or quill pen, but through a wonderful invention by the venerable Peter Schöeffer of Gernsheim. In the year of our Lord 1476, on the ninth day of January.” Pierre Schoeffer worked as a foreman in the printing shop that Gutenberg was in the process of setting up. Thanks to his training as a scribe, he helped his master perfect the printing press. In 1455, following the publication of the first 42-line Bible, he ended his partnership with Gutenberg and testified against him during the lawsuit brought against Gutenberg by the banker Johann Fust. Two years later, he partnered with Fust to establish the Fust & Schoeffer printing house. Handwritten title page on a blank leaf at the beginning. Handwritten chapter headings and page numbers in red at the top of each leaf. Slight wormholes in the lower margin of the last 20 leaves. Numerous handwritten annotations from the period. The binding appears to have been made in the very early 16th century. (Brunet I, 1100) (ISTC, ib00985000) (Hain, 3593) (Pellechet 2736) (Goff B-985). (Helmschrott, (J.M.). Verzeichniß alter Druckdenkmale der Bibliothek des uralten Benediktiner-Stifts zum H. Mang in Füeßen. Ulm, 1790. No. 64. “This edition can therefore still be counted among rare and little-known books; the paper is very thick and white”). The name “Lupiana” or “Lapiana,” embossed in cold relief on a banner on the covers, refers, in our opinion, either to the San Bartolomé de Lupiana monastery in Spain, serving as a “supra-libris,” or as a mark of ownership. A VERY BEAUTIFUL COPY, WITH WIDE MARGINS AND CAREFULLY MARKED PAGES. Provenance: - Charles Lormier, with 2 bookplates (Catalog of the late Ch. Lormier, 1901, Part 1, no. 2702), which notes “contemporary binding and the word ‘Laprade’ on the covers.” Lormier (1825–1900) was the founder of the Société des Bibliophiles normands in 1863. - Saint Magne Abbey, a Benedictine monastery located in Füssen, Bavaria (handwritten bookplate from the period), whose incunabula were sold in 1803–1804.