IMPORTANT ILLUSTRATED AND RUBRICATED INCUNABLE OF JOHANN MEDER’S LENTEN SERMONS, 1497, WITH WOODCUTS BY THE MASTER OF THE HAINTZ NAR, IN CONTEMPORARY TOOLED CALF, THE FURSTENBERG COPY
[MEDER, Johann]. Quadragesimale. Basel: Michael Furter, 1497. 16mo, contemporary full blind-tooled paneled calf over wooden boards rebacked with original spine laid down, raised bands, remnant of metal clasp. collation: p1 a-z8 A-F8. Housed in a custom clamshell box. $13,500.
Second edition (a page-for-page reprint of the first, published two years earlier) of this collection of Lenten sermons, complete with 18 wonderful full-page woodcuts (two repeated) and woodcut printer’s device, rubricated throughout in red, in a most handsome contemporary blind-tooled Augsburg binding, from the celebrated collection of Jean Furstenberg. Rare.
"Quadragesima denotes a season of preparation by fasting and prayer, to imitate the example of Christ. Several such were observed by the early Christians… The major, before Easter, is commonly known," the season of Lent (Catholic Encyclopedia). First published by Furter in 1495, Quadragesimale di filio prodigo presents 50 sermons for Lent that relate the parable of the Prodigal Son (found in Luke 15:11-32) to the suffering and death of Jesus. Fransciscan priest Johann Meder preached these sermons at Basel during the Lenten season of 1494 and, the next year, asked Furter-one of the first printers in Basel-to publish them with illustrations. A page-for-page reprint of the first edition, this edition is printed in double-column Gothic type, with rubricated calligraphic initials. Handsomely bound in contemporary paneled calf, blind-tooled with a roll depicting a stag hunt and central lattice. The splendid and significant woodcuts, which illustrate the Prodigal's journey as well as Jesus' Passion, were executed by the Master of the Haintz Nar, who was Albrecht Dürer's main collaborator in illustrating Sebastian Brant's famed Narrenschiff (The Ship of Fools), published in Basel in 1494. Brant himself, a "prolific writer of verse and panegyrics" (Contemporaries of Erasmus I:190), provided the poetical introduction for the present work, in which the Prodigal and an angel discuss such subjects fashion, social injustice and gambling. A letter from Brant to Meder, in which the humanist expresses his thanks for Meder's council, was printed in Brant's 1498 and 1504 editions of the Revelationes of Pseudo Methodius. A page-for-page reprint of the first edition, this edition is printed in double-column Gothic type, with rubricated calligraphic initials. Goff M-422. Proctor 7736. Bookplate of noted collector of Renaissance books, Jean Furstenberg. Old ink annotations and inscriptions.
Scattered light marginal dampstaining, occasional expected embrowning and soiling. Front inner hinge expertly repaired. Only mild age-wear to contemporary calf, rubbing to contemporary hand-lettered title on spine, remnant of metal clasp. An excellent incunable with a distinguished provenance. Exceptionally rare.