PSEUDO-BONAVENTURE Incominciono le devote meditationi sopra la passione del nostro signore…

Goff, B-911 (4 copies); Sander, 1179; IGI, 1922; Proctor, 6183; BMC, VI, 646; GW, 4777; Kristeller, 69a; Arnim, 72.

First Florentine edition and first printing of the woodcuts of this superb illustrated incunable.

Wrongly attributed to Saint Bonaventure, this work appears to be a compilation of texts by Nicolas de Lyre, Pierre Lombard, etc. It enjoyed great success and influence from the moment of its publication and went through numerous editions between 1480 and 1520.

The present edition was published in Florence by Antonio Miscomini, who worked successively in Venice, Nanantola and Florence until 1495. It contains one more chapter than the previous editions: “Come le marie andarno al sepulchro & come trovarono chi el nostro signore era resuscitato“.

But this volume is most remarkable for its illustrations. The 12 woodcuts interspersed in the text are some of the finest examples of late fifteenth-century Florentine engraving. The artist who composed them, who remains anonymous, was inspired by the Venetian illustrations printed by Bernardinus Benali. But the contrasts and landscapes with black backgrounds, characteristic of Florentine engraving of this period, give these prints a particular strength and beauty. Each of these woodcuts is set within beautiful ornate borders with black backgrounds.

A very fine copy with wide margins.

Cited by Sander, it comes from the libraries of Eugène Piot, Louis Leboeuf de Montgermont, Edouard Rahir, Piero Ginori-Conti and Otto Schäfer with their book plates.