INCUNABULUM. — BREVIARIUM CONSTANTIENSE. [Strasbourg, Johann - Lot 42

INCUNABULUM. — BREVIARIUM CONSTANTIENSE. [Strasbourg, Johann Grüninger, c. 1488]. Gothic folio, cold-stamped sowhide on wooden boards, decorated with fillets and rosettes, with phylacteries (IHS MARIA), eight corner pieces, and a central chiseled brass medallion; traces of clasps; ribbed spine (contemporary binding). An extremely rare incunabulum edition from Strasbourg, of which only about fifteen copies are listed in public collections (none located in France, it seems), most of which are incomplete. (GW, 5321; H, 3826.) This edition was published in six parts and is printed in two columns in Gothic type, in red and black. A very incomplete copy, comprising only the first four parts, including the *Pars hiemalis* (a total of 291 folios out of 332); without the *Pars aestivalis* (276 ff.) or the *Commune sanctorum* (32 ff.). Notably missing is the first folio, blank on the recto and decorated on the verso with a large and beautiful woodcut illustration. Attractive binding, strictly contemporary. Numerous handwritten annotations from the period on the endpapers and scattered throughout the volume. A transverse tear on the first folio, with part of the damaged text restored in pen. A corner of one leaf has been restored but is missing; leaves e2–5 are heavily damaged with loss of text; there are tears or missing paper along the edges of a few leaves; soiling and stains on several quires. The clasps are missing.

Estimate:£834.66

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