Beschreibung:

BERCHORIUS, Petrus (d.1362). Liber Bibliae moralisatus . Ulm: Johann Zainer, 9th April 1474. Super-Median 2 o (397 x 269 mm). Collation : [1-6 1 0 7 8 8 8 (8+1) 9 1 0 (10+1) 10-15 1 0 16-17 8 18-26 1 0 27 12 ]. 266 leaves. 50 lines and head-line, double column. Gothic type 1:116. Zainer's large two-sided woodcut border (BMC 6a) with scrolling flowers and foliage, at top the figure of a kneeling jester among the vines. Woodcut capitals in two different styles, the larger 10-line set (BMC 3a) featuring elaborate ropework designs, the smaller, 3-line set (BMC 1b) lombard outlines. Some pages rubricated, with capitals outlined in red and initial strokes supplied, but mostly unrubricated. (Two marginal wormholes to first few leaves, last quire with several wormholes catching an occasional letter, last leaf with several letters affected.) Contemporary German blindstamped pigskin over wooden boards, sides panelled with fillets, central panel filled with repeated impressions of a fleur-de-lys in lozenge, outer panels filled with impressions of various circular tools: the agnus dei, Mary and Christ child ( Schwenke-Sammlung pl.198, no.35: Nuremberg) and eagle, upper cover with contemporary manuscript paper label in a gothic hand in red and black ink (top of spine chipped, wormholes, clasps and catches lacking). Provenance : Indistinct inscription, dated 1555 on back pastedown -- 17th-century inscription on first page -- Estelle Doheny (morocco bookplate; purchased from Maggs Bros., London) -- donated to SMS 1947. FIRST EDITION of this extensive moralized commentary on the Old and New Testaments, printed a scant 15 months after Zainer had established himself as Ulm's first printer. The fine woodcut border on the first page occurs in two forms; in an altered version in use from October 1475, the jester's cap no longer features two projecting flaps (for that version see the Gritsch, Quadragesimale , Goff G-490, in the Friedlaender Collection, Christie's New York, 23 April 2001, lot 53, illustrated). In the present work, the colophon expresses thanks to the clemency of the Lord that the book has been completed "through the industry of Johannes Zeiner of Reutlingen" by the "art of printing (not by the pen), from "letters cast in lead" (stagneis carateribus) at Ulm, 9 April 1474. A VERY TALL FINE COPY, WITH DECKLE EDGES PRESERVED IN SOME QUIRES. Very rare: only the Klotz copy (considerably shorter, with border trimmed), has been offered at auction in a quarter century (sale, Christie's London, 2 November 1994, lot 27). Amelung, Frühdruck I, 20; BMC II, 522 (C.14.e.11); BSB-Ink. B-291; CIBN B-325; GW 3862; HC *2794; Harvard/Walsh 883; IDL 727; IGI 1487; Pr 2502; Goff B-336.