INCUNABLE. - VORAGINE (Jacques de). - Lot 65

INCUNABLE. - VORAGINE (Jacques de). Legenda sanctorum sive Lombardica hystoria. S.l.n.d. [colophon]: Nuremberg, Georg Stuchs de Sulczpach, October 1488. Large volume in-4, half sow's skin cold-stamped on aisle, three-ribbed spine, remnants of leather strap, title inscribed in ink on head edge (Period binding). GW, M11260. - HC, n°6450 - Pellechet, n°6476. - Goff, J120. Very rare incunabula edition from the presses of Georg Stuchs, a printer active in Nuremberg from 1484 to the late 1510s. The Golden Legend, written in Latin in the second half of the 13th century, is the main text by Jacques de Voragine (c. 1230-1298), a Dominican preacher born in Varazze in Liguria, archbishop of Genoa and contemporary of St. Thomas Aquinas. It is presented as a manual of religious culture designed to strengthen the faith and combat heresy. Based on authentic sources and in the order of the liturgical calendar, the author recounts the lives of numerous Christian saints and martyrs since the arrival of the Lombards in Italy in the 6th century. His book, read in every monastery and translated into several languages, constitutes a history of almost the entire Christian West. A very attractive copy, with initials painted in red, preserved in its period binding, probably executed in a local workshop. Long old note on endpapers. Lining of first cover torn away, wormholes throughout volume, tear repaired in lower margin of folio 249. Small crack to head cover.