Josephus, Flavius | First edition of Josephus in Latin, handsomely illuminated

Josephus, Flavius

De antiquitate Judaica; De bello Judaico. [Augsburg:] Johann Schüssler, 28 June; 23 August 1470

Royal folio (388 × 280 mm). Collation: a-c¹² d-q¹⁰ r⁸ s-t¹⁰ v⁸; A-G¹⁰ H-I⁸, 287 leaves (of 288, lacking the first blank only), text printed in two columns, 50 lines, gothic type, rubricated (lombard initials, paragraph marks, underlining) and handsomely illuminated with border on first printed page, book initials in red-blue interlock or in pigments with acanthus moulding, penwork infill and extensions, some with additional colors, instances of early marginalia; first leaf browned, lower margin of c10 repaired, not affecting text, a few other areas of minor and primarily marginal repairs, instances of primarily marginal dampstaining, one or two closed marginal tears. Late 18th or early 19th-century polished marbled sheep, gilt dentelle border, spine with raised bands in seven compartments, second and third with red and green leather gilt labels, others with repeat overall pattern in gilt, edges sprinkled red and blue, marbled paper endleaves; gouge on upper cover repaired, minor rubbing to extremities. Housed in custom clamshell case.

First edition of Josephus in Latin, and the first book printed by Johann Schüssler.

In the Latin west, from late antiquity onward, Josephus was awarded the status almost of one of the church fathers and worthy of refectory reading, partly because of a particular commendation of him by St Jerome. In the incunable literature the Latin version of Josephus’s Antiquities is commonly associated with Jerome’s contemporary, Rufinus of Aquileia (d. 410), but it belongs to the second half of the sixth century, and the circle of Cassiodorus. The translation of the Jewish War is apparently earlier, and Cassiodorus wrote that it had been attributed variously to Jerome (d. 420), Rufinus, or Ambrose (d. 397). The Greek editio princeps of Josephus was published by Froben and Episcopius in Basel, 1544, with facing Latin translation.

REFERENCES:

BMC II 327 (IC.5612); Goff J481; GW M15160; ISTC ij00481000. See Franz Blatt, The Latin Joephus I (Copenhagen 1958)

PROVENANCE:

Charles Pierre Joseph Le Candele, baron de Gyseghem, 1761-1830 (bookplate) — Dukes of Arenberg (dealer annotation) — Albert Natural, Swiss diplomat, 1918-2002 (bookplate) — Jewish Theological Seminary (bookplate and stamp; Sotheby's New York, 19 June 2015, lot 2, realized $225,000)