Beschreibung:

Statuta confraternitatis Psalterii Beatae Mariae Virginis , in Italian: Compagnia ovvero Confraternita del Psalterio ovvero Rosario della gloriosissima Vergine Maria. Ordinazioni, istitutioni, capitoli, regole, privilegii ed indulgentie . [Florence: Antonio di Bartolommeo Miscomini, after 4 May 1485]. First and only edition of an extremely rare Florentine illustrated incunable concerning the Company of the Holy Rosary established at Florence at the Dominican convent of San Marco. It begins with a short history of the company and its foundation by Jacob Sprenger and proceeds to sets out the rules, privileges, Mysteries of the Holy Rosary and indulgences. The concept of the Rosary is given to St. Dominic in an apparition and has played a significant role in the veneration of the Virgin Mary over centuries. The fine Florentine woodcuts, serving devotional as well as illustrative purposes, appear here uniquely. Only 4 institutional copies are known, none in the major repositories of incunabula: Bologna; Siena; Cambridge, Mass.; and New York (Metropolitan Museum, imperfect). Schutte, Printed Italian Vernacular Religious Books , p. 143; R(+ Index) 883; Sander 6574; IGI 3112; Walsh 2969; Rhodes Firenze, 213; ISTC is00758000; Goff S-758. Chancery quarto (202 x 133mm). Collation: [1 12 ], 12 leaves. Printed in red and black, the red printed second, two half-page woodcuts, one of the confraternity insignia incorporating a Rosary and one of the Annunciation, 25 lines, (neat repaired tear in first 2 leaves). Blue morocco by Lloyd of London, single gilt fillet on sides, flat spine lettered in gilt, gilt edges.