Beschreibung:

JOHANNES PARVUS Salesberiensis (d.1180). Polycraticus sive De nugis curialium et vestigiis philosophorum . [Brussels: Brothers of the Common Life, at the House of Nazareth, ca. 1479-81]. Chancery 2° (249 x 183mm). Collation: [1-2 10 3 1 2 4 4 5-24 10 25 8 26 6 ] (1/1r blank, 1/1v life of John of Salisbury, 1/2r tabula, 3/11v-12 blank, 4/1r Entheticus in Policraticon (verse prologue), 5/1 blank, 5/2r prologue, 5/4r liber primus , 26/3r Carmen de membris conspirantibus , 26/6 blank). 247 (of 250, without blank 3/12, 5/1 and 26/6) leaves. 40 lines, double column. Type HPT 4 . :100G. Guide-letters. 4-, 3-, and 8-line initials opening the tabula, prologue and book one, respectively, in blue with red decoration, 3- to 6-line initials and paragraph marks alternating in red or blue, red capital strokes. (First leaf repaired at inner margin, some initials offset, some marginal wormholes in first and last leaves, light offsetting (of a manuscript) on fo. 148v-149r, a few leaves browned.) Eighteenth-century French gold-tooled red morocco, fillets and corner ornaments on sides, spine decorated in compartments with green morocco lettering pieces, roll-tooled turn-ins, marbled endpapers, blue silk ribbon marker, gilt edges, (corners worn), (bound not before 1784). Provenance : very few contemporary marginal annotations and some underlining; John Trotter Brockett (1788-1842), with his bookplate (sale Sotheby's, 17 Dec. 1823, no.99, #4.9.0. to Thorpe); Richard Heber (1743-1833), with his stamp on front flyleaf (sale Sotheby's, 3 Feb. 1835, no.3992, #1.9.0); pencilled prices of #3.3.0 and #6.6.0 on front flyleaf. FIRST EDITION. John of Salisbury, bishop of Chartres, may be considered a 12th-century humanist and was a leading figure of English learning, who participated fully in contemporary European intellectual and religious life. Not only is the Polycraticus a classic of medieval political theory, discussing principles of government and constructing an ideal prince, it is also an encyclopedia of enlightened thought on philosophy and learning of the mid-12th century. The production of books, both for their own needs and for others, had always been an important activity of the Brothers of the Common Life, so it was a logical step when the Brussels house followed that of Rostock and Marienthal and began printing books in 1475. Theirs was the first press at Brussels. Johannes Veldener supplied the Brothers with type as he had supplied Cologne printers, and he may have printed their first book for them (HPT I, p.25-8). The similarity between these Veldener types was such that in the Heber sale catalogue, this copy was assigned to Arnold ther Hoernen (see lot 15). HC *9430; BMC IX, 174 (IB. 49518-9); Goff J-425; CA 1045; IDL 2736; CIBN J-280