15. Robertus Holkot, d. 1349

Quaestiones super IV libros Sententiarum

Lyons: Johannes Trechsel, 5-20 April 1497

Description

Paper [194] leaves; 285 x 205 mm (fol.). Gothic type. Double columns. F.1a Title-page: 'Magistri Roberti holkot Super quattuor libros sententiarum questiones...' F.1b: Dedicatory letter of Josse Badius (co-editor with Augustinus de Ratisbona) dated 'Ex Lugduno. Xij kalendas Maias, 1497.' Colophon: 'Huius operis diligeter impressi Lugduni a magro Iohane Trechsel alemano. anno salutis nostre. Mccccxcvij. ad nonas Aprilis. charte cosignate huiuscemodi characteribus.' Rubricated (mostly red and some blue and yellow).

Binding

Half bound leather over buckram. Boards detached. Spine cracked. Spine title reads: Roberti/ Holkot/ Quaestione/ Lugduni/ 1497.

Printer

The earliest printings in Lyons are some Latin devotional tracts by Pope Innocent III on 17 September 1473. The printer's name Guillaume Le Roy 'an expert in this typographic art' appears in the colophon. The German-born Johannes Trechsel was an important printer-cum-publisher in Lyons. He was a fellow countryman of Nicolaus Philippi and had presumably been his foreman, as after the latter's death, Trechsel married the widow and soon came into possession of the printing office. His first known book was Caracciolus's Lenten sermons 'de peccatis', printed 4th February 1488/89. Trechsel prided himself on accuracy, clearness of type, and handiness of format. It worked; there was always a steady demand for his productions. Unlike other Lyonnesse presses, he stuck to Latin works, and avoiding the vernacular. The scholar-printer Joducus Bodius Ascensius joined him in 1492. One result of this 'partenrship' was an illustrated edition of Terence in August 1493, which is Trechsels best-known work. He died in 1498; his successor was Johannes Clein. Trechsel's print device is present below the colophon.

Provenance

1. Ex bibliotheca collegij montisancti – possibly Heiligenkreuz in Austria, or possibly Heiligkreuz in Augsburg 2. Canon William Ardene Shoults 3. Selwyn College; Otago University Library

Reference

HC 8763*; BMC VIII 300; Goff H287; Kaplan 264; ISTC ih00287000; GW 12890

Illustrations

Early title-page with provenance note, first page of text proper, colophon with printer's device.