Conradus de Alemania [Halberstadt the Elder] (fl. circa

Conradus de Alemania [Halberstadt the Elder] (fl. circa 1342-1362)

Concordantiae Bibliorum. [Strassburg: Johann Mentelin, not after 1474.]Editio princeps, folio, 415 of 417 leaves, lacking first and last blanks; printed in gothic type, two columns throughout, sixty-six lines per page, nine-line initial Q in red and yellow on first leaf of text, large seven- or eight-line initials heading each new alphabetic section, rubricated headlines added by hand for each of the three columns per page throughout; bound in full contemporary German tanned calf over substantial wooden boards, chamfered edges, boards decorated in blind within diagonal compartments, individual handle tools (including flowers, leaves, fleur-de-lis, stars, and stag), ruling, and rolled tools, with brass clasps and catches (one catch detached), with the original endbands (endmost sewing supports); contemporary printer's waste pastedowns, front joint repaired, sound; some worming, large paper repair to final leaf; 16 1/4 x 11 1/4 in.Goff C849; H 5629*; Schorbach 33; Pell 3933; Oates 85; Bod-inc C-428; Sheppard 164; Pr 222; BMC I 58; BSB-Ink C-497; GW 7418; ISTC ic00849000. Rare, two copies at auction, 1976 & 2004, both rebound; seven U.S. copies.For more on Mentelin's "very peculiar" transitional method of marking signatures see, William Blades, "The Use & Development of Signatures in Books," from Books in Chains and other Bibliographical Papers, 1892, pages 110-112. The signatures are mostly preserved in this copy, as it has never been trimmed down.