Aquinas's Catena aurea

Aquinas's Catena aurea
Günther Zainer, not after 1475
THOMAS AQUINAS (1225-1274). Catena aurea super quattuor evangelistas. [Augsburg: Günther Zainer, not after 1475.]

Second edition of an early work by Saint Thomas Aquinas, with illumination and in a contemporary binding. A commentary on the four Gospels, this text was created by excerpting passages from works of the Fathers of the Church, both West and East, and linking them together in the same order as the Biblical text as a "chain" (catena). Günther Zainer was the first printer in Augsburg, where he worked from 1468 until his death in 1478. According to RBH and ABPC, no copy of this edition has appeared at auction in over 50 years. H 1328*; BMC II 323; BSB-Ink T-198; Bod-Inc T-131; CIBN T-127; Goff T-226; ISTC it00226000.

Royal folio (420 x 280mm). 525 leaves (of 529, including a half-leaf inserted after 22/2 and printed with one column only, without blanks). Bearer type visible at foot of 1/5r col. 2. 4 large initials in colored frames with scrolling acanthus, smaller initial in red. Contemporary blindstamped calf over wooden boards, clasps, edges painted red and blue (missing bosses, rebacked, repaired). Provenance: Wilten, Premonstratensian monastery near Innsbruck (inscription and stamps).