Contra Celsum et in fidei Christianae defensionem.

Accession number: 
PML 21121
Author: 
Origen.
Published: 
Rome : Georgius Herolt, January 1481.
Description: 
[264] leaves ; 29.5 x 22 cm. (fol.)
Credit Line: 
Purchased by J.P. Morgan, Jr., 1920.
Notes: 

Title from incipit (leaf [1]/3r): ORIGENIS PROAEMIUM CONTRA CELSUM ET IN FIDEI CHRISTIANAE DEFENSIONEM LIBER .I.
Colophon (leaf [32]/5v): Origenis contra Celsum finis: quem Christophorus persona Romanus: prior sanctae Balbinae de urbe: latine qraeceq[ue] pertissimus: cu[m] fide e graeco traduxit & emndatur. Magister vero Georgius Herolt de Bamberga Romae impressit. Anno incarnationis domini Millesimoquadringe[n]tesimooctogesimo primo: mense Januarii: regnante Sixto quarto pontifice maximo: anno eius decimo.
Printed in type 1:112R.
Collation: [1¹⁰ 2-14⁸ 15-18¹⁰ 19-31⁸ 32⁶]: 264 leaves.
Paper format: Chancery folio and Royal quarto
Translated by Christophorus Persona.
Copies are known with a dedicatory letter to Sixtus IV in place of that to Giovanni Mocenigo (Oxford Bodley (3rd copy), Paris BN, Kraków, Toruń, two Vaticano copies).
Copies are known of mixed Chancery folio and Royal quarto format.
PML copy leaf dimensions: 28.4 x 21 cm., all Chancery folio.

Binding: 
18th-century French mottled calf over paper boards (29.5 x 22 cm.), sewn on 5 supports. Plain paper pastedowns and fly leaves; decorative endbands; red edges.
Variant Title: 

Contra Celsum et in fidei Christianae defensionem libri

Inscriptions/Markings: 

Hand decoration: Rubricated, alternating red and blue initials. Annotations: Contemporary marginal notations throughout in an Italian hand. Contemporary foliation and book number headlines.

Provenance: 
Ferrara (Italy), Dominicans, inscription: "Est co[n]ve[n]tus St. do[mi]nici de ferraria," abraded but visible under UV, 17th century (leaf [1]/2v); Michael Wodhull (1740-1816), inscription: "Oct: 19th 1793" (rear fly leaf), Wodhull left his collection to his sister-in-law Mary Ingram, who left it in 1824 to Samuel Amy Severne; J.E. Severne and Wodhull sale, Sotheby's London, 11 January 1886, lot 1842 for 15s; John Timbrell Milward Pierce (b. 1862), armorial bookplate, no. 291 (front pastedown); unidentified (Pierce sale?) catalogue description, lot 590 (front fly leaf); Theodore L. DeVinne, bookplate (front pastedown), owned a number of books from Pierce's collection; his sale, Anderson, 12 Jan. 1920, lot 608; J.P. Morgan, Jr. (1867-1943), purchased from Giuseppe Martini, 1920.
Classification: 
Incunable Collection
Catalog Link: 
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Genres: 
Mottled calf bindings (Binding)
Department: 
Printed Books