Astesanus de Ast's Summa de casibus conscientiae

Astesanus de Ast's Summa de casibus conscientiae
Johann Mentelin, not after 1473
ASTESANUS DE AST (d. c.1330). Summa de casibus conscientiae. [Strasbourg: Johann Mentelin, not after 1473.]

Second printing of this important legal work of the later Middle Ages, the text of which was completed in 1317. Astesanus, a Franciscan canon lawyer and theologian, here discusses the sacraments, provides guidance for confessors, and explains the legal terminology of both canon and civil law. Johann Mentelin, who also printed the first edition, datable to not after 1469, was Strasbourg’s first printer and is thought to have learned his craft from Gutenberg himself. HC(+Add) 1889*; BMC I 56; GW 2750; BSB-Ink A-794; Bod-inc A-468; Goff A-1161; ISTC ia01161000.

Royal folio (400 x 280mm). 432 leaves (of 433, without blank). Quires 41-43 (tables) bound at beginning of this copy. Larger initials in blue or red with flourishing in the opposite color, smaller alternating red and blue Lombards, a few with scrolling marginal extensions by the rubricator, red capital strokes and paragraph marks, occasional red flourishes as line fillers (unobtrusive dampstains to a few top or bottom margins). Contemporary blindstamped pigskin over wooden boards, flat brass bosses and cornerpieces, straps, manuscript title on bottom edge, remains of paper label on front board. Provenance: occasional marginal notes in an early hand – “Ad Conventum Rothenbergensem” (erased inscription on first leaf) – “H.W. 23 [?] Anno 1562” (inscription on front flyleaf) – “Approbatus 1570” (inscription on front pastedown) – acquired from Lathrop C. Harper, Inc, New York, 8 March 1957.