Lebe[n] der usservelte[n] freünd gottes der heiligen altvetter.

Accession number: 
PML 219
Uniform title: 
Vitae patrum. German.
Published: 
[Strasbourg] : [Printer of the 'Antichristus' (Heinrich Eggestein?)], [not after 1482]
Description: 
[232] leaves : illus. (woodcuts) ; 31 cm (fol.)
Credit Line: 
Purchased with the Bennett collection, 1902.
Notes: 

Title from leaf [1]/2r.
Printed in type 115G assigned to the Printer of the 'Antichristus.'
Listed as Germany, Unassigned by Proctor, BMC suggests Strassburg as the most likely place of printing, and that Prüss may be the printer (ISTC). Paul Needham, "Counting Incunables: The ISTC CD-ROM," 518-19, clarified the attribution and followed Scholderer's identification of Heinrich Eggestein as the printer; see also Geldner, Die deutschen Inkunabeldrucker, I: 67.
The München BSB copy has a rubricator's date of 1482. Sack (Freiburg) 3691 dates to ca. 1482 based on the watermarks.
Colophon (leaf [30]/5v): Hie endet sich das bůch der heiligen altvetter mit synen byspilen. Das zů latyn genant ist vitaspatrum.
Collation: [1-3⁸ 4⁶ 5-10⁸ 11⁶ 12-13⁸ 14⁶ 15-29⁸ 30⁶]: 232 leaves, leaves [1]/1 and [30]/6 blank. Variant collation in GW. According to Hain, there are also four additional leaves, either at the end, or at the beginning, containing a table.
Paper format: Chancery folio
Woodcut initials in text; 150 woodcut scens from 106 blocks (with repeats).
This work is attributed to Saint Jerome.
PML copy leaf dimensions: 29.8 x 21.4 cm.
PML copy missing 1 leaf: [30]/6 (blank).

Binding: 
Contemporary unstamped pigskin over bevelled boards (30.6 x 22 cm), sewn on 3 supports. 12th/13th-century southern German manuscript missal bifolia fragments as pastedowns, with plain paper (modern) fly leaves; decorative endbands. 2 clasps.
Variant Title: 

Leben der heiligen Altväter

Inscriptions/Markings: 

Hand decoration: Rubricated, red lombards, paragraph marks, and capital strokes; woodcut initials and scenes highlighted in red. Annotations: No marginal notations in text.

Provenance: 
Freiburg im Breisgau, Universitätsbibliothek, ca. 1809, ink stamp: VF monogram encircled by garland (leaves [1]/1v and [30]/5v); stamp, unidentified, roman-font S (5 mm) stamped several times (leaf [30]/5v); William Morris, Kelmscott House, Hammersmith (1834-1896), booklabel (front pastedown); Richard Bennett (1849-1930), armorial bookplate (front fly leaf recto) and price code sl/-/- +; Pierpont Morgan, purchased with the Bennett collection, 1902.
Classification: 
Department: