Peter Bichsel   Fine Books

Peraldus, Gulielmus. Summa virtutum ac vitiorum.

Gothic type, 60 lines over two columns. Initials in red and blue, text rubricated. 14 leaves „Summarium“, 12 leaves „Annotatio“, 174 leaves „De virtutibus“, 142 leaves „De vitiis“. 4to. Contemp. green and blind-stamped leather over wooden 2 clasps. Ms. title on fore-edge. – Basel, Johann Amerbach, 1497.

A fine Basel incunabulum of the moral-theological handbook by the French Dominican Guillaume Peyraut (also Peyrault, c. 1200–1271 in Lyon). Peyraut’s magnum opus, comprising two parts—a treatise on virtues and a treatise on vices—is presented here in its second complete edition (first published in Brescia in 1494). Previously, the two parts had only been printed separately. This copy bears a handwritten ownership note from the 16th century: ‘Samuel Maccius (...) pastor ecclesiae Walpachensis et Clarae Stellae anno 60 (...). Ex hereditate Johan Cunrad Gerhardy P.’ on the inside front cover. Samuel Mack (d. 1607) is documented as a pastor in Waldbach, Württemberg (Hohenlohe district) (see wkgo.de), from where he apparently also looked after the Cistercian convent of Lichtenstern (“clara stella”) near Heilbronn, which was dissolved in 1554. – GW 12055; Hayn/C. 12390; Goff P-86; BSB-Ink G-525; Kaufmann/Nabholz II, 488; Vander Haeghen, Basler Wiegendrucke, 82. – Six repairs to the corners and edges. Old underlining and marginal notes. Extensive old notes in two different handwritings on the title page of the ‘Summarium’. A few water stains. Overall, a very well-preserved copy. – Best.-Nr. 27025