HIERONYMUS STRIDONENSIS (SAINT JEROME). The Noble Lives of t - Lot 15

HIERONYMUS STRIDONENSIS (SAINT JEROME). The Noble Lives of the Chosen Friends of God, the Holy Fathers. Augsburg, Johann Schönsperger, June 9, 1497. Two parts in one small folio volume (251 x 168 mm), modern half-pigskin binding on wooden boards, with copper fasteners and clasps. Collation: A6, a-r8, A-R8, S6. 282 leaves (out of 284; the blank r8 and S6 are missing). An extremely rare incunabulum edition in German of the Lives of the Fathers of Saint Jerome, the second published by Schönsperger in Augsburg, twelve years after the first. It is very richly illustrated with a frontispiece depicting eight hermits in nature, taken from the 1485 edition, and 263 remarkable woodcut figures in the text, each one column wide, some of which are repeated, copies of the woodcuts from Anton Sorg’s edition (1482). A very beautiful and exceptional copy, entirely and superbly hand-colored in period with warm hues dominated by red, green, yellow, and brown. Only twenty copies, half of which are damaged, have been cataloged in public collections by ISTC: two copies in the United States (including the damaged copy at the Morgan Library), none in France or the United Kingdom. The digitized copy at the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich is uncolored. Two copies in private hands are listed by GW, having appeared at the Hartung and Hartung auctions on November 3 and 4, 2024, and at Bassenge in 2025 (estimated at €50,000). Stains and minor marginal repairs to the title page, which has been reattached along the inner margin; a few rare and minimal marginal stains or water marks, slightly more pronounced on a few leaves in the second part. Acquired by Émile Rossignol in 1979. Hain, 8608*; GW., M50897; ISTC, ih00221000; Goff, H221; Schreiber, 4423.

Estimate:£17,044.7

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