Thomas de Ke[m]pis de imitatione Christi [et] de contemptu omniu[m] vanitatu[m] mundi.

Accession number:

PML 59.1

Uniform title:

Imitatio Christi.

Published:

Argentine impressus : [Johann Prüss], M.cccc.lxxxix [1489].

Description:

[168] leaves : illustration (woodcut) ; 15 cm (8vo)

Credit Line:

Purchased with the Irwin collection; 1900.

Notes:

On the attribution to Thomas à Kempis see A. Ampe, L'Imitation de Jésus-Christ et son auteur (Roma, 1973) and R.R. Post, The Modern Devotion (Leiden, 1968) pp. 520-536 (CIBN).
Title from half-title page.
Imprint from colophon, leaf X8v: Tractatulus venerabil[is] m[a]g[ist]ri Ioha[n]nis Gerson de meditat[i]o[n]e cordis. Arg[e]n[tine] impressus. Anno d[omi]ni M.cccc.lxxxix. finit feliciter.
Printed in Prüss's types 7:156G and 8:80G.
Signatures: [A⁸]; B-X⁸: 168 leaves, leaves [A]7-8 blank.
Paper format: Chancery octavo.
Woodcuts.
PML copy leaf dimensions: 13.7 x 9.8 cm.
PML copy missing 2 leaves: [A]1(half-title) and [A]8 (blank).

Binding:

15th-century German blind-stamped calf(?) over wooden boards (15 x 11 cm), sewn on 3 supports by the Erfurt St. Peter bindery (EBDB w002367, active 1358-1520; also known as Erfurt Benediktinerkloster Sankt Peter und Paul II, St. Peter II, and Peterskloster IV-V); repaired and rebacked by Duprez Lahey. Plain paper (renewed?) pastedowns and endleaves; decorative endbands. Metal corner pieces and 5 bosses on each board; 2 clasps, missing.

Inscriptions/Markings:

Hand decoration: Contemporary rubrication, red initials, paragraph marks, and underlining. Annotations: No marginal notations in text. Fore edge knots in Precordiale. "Maria" and "Jesus" written on edges.

Provenance:

Erfurt, Benedictines of St. Peter, binding and inscription: "S. petri Erfordiae" (leaf [A]2r); Georg Kloss (1787-1854), bookplate (front pastedown), his sale, Sotheby's, 7 May 1835, lot 2066; unidentified stamp: "Georg [abraded]" (not Kloss) (front endleaf 1 recto); Theodore Irwin (1827-1902), purchased from Sabin, May 1881, entire library purchased in 1900 by: Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), purchased with the Irwin collection, 1900.

Classification:

Incunable Collection

Catalog Link:

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Genres:

Blind tooled bindings (Binding)

Department:

Printed Books