Sermo de Visione dei.
[Rome], [Johann Besicken and Sigismundus Mayer] [after 26 December 1495].
4to (203 x 137 mm.). [i], [11]p. Roman type, two series of floriated white-line woodcut initials, FINE UNSHADED TITLE WOODCUT of the stoning of Saint Stephen (77 x 82 mm.).
Vellum boards, manuscript spine title.
“First Edition…Rare” (Arnim). In this sermon delivered on St. Stephen’s day before the pope, Monsaureus implores Alexander VI to purge the Church of avarice, blasphemy and lechery. The text and illustration, the latter showing Neapolitan influence, invoke the first martyr, murdered for denouncing Israel’s authorities’ resistance to Jesus’ message. Ours is the first of two undated editions by Besicken, here while still in partnership with Mayr. In this copy, four words of text inadvertently dropped by the compositor have been hand-stamped below the final line of the third recto. In good condition (title lightly foxed, one outer margin uncut).
¶Rava, Arte dell’illustrazione nel libro italiano del rinascimento 76 & tav. LI-B; Arnim, Katalog der Bibliothek Otto Schäfer 247; De Simone, A Heavenly Craft: The Woodcut in Early Printed Books 20; Sander, Le Livre à figures italien 4869; ISTC im00811000; Goff M-811.
Price: $12,000.00