Augustine's De civitate Dei

Augustine's De civitate Dei
Johann de Paderborn, 1488
AUGUSTINUS, Aurelius (354-430). De civitate Dei. With commentary by Thomas Waleys and Nicholaus Trivet. Louvain: Johann de Paderborn (Westphalia), 18 September 1488.

The only Louvain edition of Saint Augustine’s great work. The commentary by the thirteenth-century Dominicans Nicholaus Trivet and Thomas Waleys was often printed with the text. Johann of Westphalia was one of the first printers in Flanders and the first at Louvain, where he printed for the university from 1474 until 1496. HC 2061 = 2069; C 759; BMC IX 144; GW 2886; CIBN A-686; Bod-Inc A-528; Goff A-1242; ISTC ia01242000.

Royal folio (380 x 268mm). 300 leaves (of 302, without first and last blanks). Initials in red or blue, red and blue paragraph marks, red capital strokes (a portion of a6 torn away with loss of text). Contemporary blindstamped calf over wooden boards, leaves from two manuscripts showing text and surrounding glosses used as pastedowns (rebacked, lacking two clasps, minor dampstaining to some top margins). Provenance: Society of Jesus in Brussels (inscription dated 1637) – acquired from Menno Hertzberger and Co, Amsterdam, 18 May 1966.