De Civitate Dei.
Basle, Michael Wenssler [and Bernhard Richel] 1479.
Folio (444 x 306 mm.). [ii], [375], [1 blank], [116]p. Gothic types, double-column, initial spaces blank. RED PRINTING for the incipits, for both colophons and for Wenssler’s woodcut devices.
Late 18th-century gilt-ruled green sheep (scuffed), spine and title gilt, all edges gilt.
THE GREAT APOLOGIA FOR CHRISTIANITY and the supreme exposition of A CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY.
Here in its third edition with the commentaries of Englishmen Thomas Waleys and Nicolaus Trivet, The City of God examines paganism and the struggle between faith and unbelief. It guided medieval mystics and anchored both the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation. It remains vital in Christian thought today.
Wenssler and Richel collaborated on this imposing volume, employing a type font they jointly owned. A beautiful book (upper inner corners lightly stained), bookplate of P.L. van der Haegen, the historian of early Basle printing.
¶See Printing and the Mind of Man 3 (first edition, 1467); ISTC ia01241000; Goff A-1241.
Price: $22,000.00