[INCUNABLE] JOHANNES DE TURRECREMATA, EXPOSITIO SUPER TOTO PSALTERIO CIRCA 1482

A SCARCE INCUNABLE PRINTED IN BASEL [CIRCA 1482] CONTAINING JUAN DE TORQUEMADA'S COMMENTARY TO THE PSALMS

[TURRECREMATA, Johannes de (b.1388--d.1468)]. Expositio super toto psalterio. [Basel]: Johann Amerbach, [not after 1482].

Hardcover. First and only Basel printing [Amerbach presented two copies of this book to the Basel Charterhouse in 1482]. Coeval leather-bound. Folio, 2º, (290 x 200 x 40mm). 124 leaves. Signatures: a-p⁸ q⁶ [a¹ blank]. Latin text in gothic type. Double column in 40 lines plus headline. Large initial space at the beginning of each Psalm. Beautifully bound in contemporary calf over wooden boards, spine with seven raised bands. Initial and terminal blanks partially present. Provenance: "Sanctus Sixtus", early manuscript note on flyleaf; "I.W.", initials at head of first leaf. Condition: Collated complete, however a few blank leaves removed at the end. Spine covering torn with slight loss at head and foot, upper hinge weakening, pastedowns partially lifted but present. Last few leaves with a small area of dampstaining in the top margin, else textblock remarkably clean. A little minor inking. There is no catchplate on this volume, though there is the trace of a metal fixture in the centre of the lower cover, which may have been the pin for a long strap on the binding, rather than a clasp [long strap bindings were common in romanesque bindings but were supplanted by straps with hooks and catchplates by the end of the fifteenth century].

Note: Johannes DE TORQUEMADA (1388-1468) was a Spanish cardinal, belonging to the Dominican order. He was one of the most esteemed theologists of his times, chosen by the popes for diplomatic missions of the highest importance and known for his charity. Torquemada promoted the reform of religious houses and wrote extensively on behalf of papal primacy. He was uncle to the famous inquisitor Tomás de Torquemada. Torquemada's Meditationes, published in 1467 in Rome by Ulrich Han, was the first illustrated book published in Italy. His commentary on the Psalms was first printed posthumously in Rome in 1470; the present edition is perhaps the fourteenth edition overall, demonstrating the popularity of the work at the time. This is a very attractive folio edition, in the original binding, of a book on the Christian significance of the Psalms, now considered one of the major writings by the author.

References: Goff T530; HC 15689*; Pell Ms 11247; CIBN T-383; Zehnacker 2307; Castan(Besançon) 920; IGI 9875; IDL 4512; IBP 5424; SI 3874; Coll(U) 861; Coll(S) 1065; Lőkkös(Cat BPU) 435; Martín Abad T-136; Šimáková-Vrchotka 1925; Ernst(Hildesheim) I,I 408; Schlechter-Ries 1082; Günt(L) 260; Voull(B) 486,8; Voull(Trier) 197; Hubay(Augsburg) 2052; Sack(Freiburg) 3542; Hummel-Wilhelmi 384; Walsh 1158; Rhodes(Oxford Colleges) 1739; Bod-inc T-278; Sheppard 2416; Pr 7618; BMC III 747; BSB-Ink T-554; GW M48194; ISTC it00530000.