Lactantius | Opera. [Subiaco, 1465], first edition of the first dated book printed in Italy, a landmark publication from the birth of printing

Lactantius



Opera. [Subiaco: Konrad Sweynheym and Arnold Pannartz, 29th October 1465]

FIRST EDITION, folio (240 x 337 mm). COLLATION: [a¹⁰ b² c–g¹⁰ h¹² i–p¹⁰ q¹² r–t¹⁰]: 183 leaves (only, of 186: lacking a10 blank (usually found after table of contents), and t9-10 terminal blanks. Subiaco roman type, 36 lines. Greek words supplied in manuscript, breathings also supplied in manuscript where Greek quotations are included in print, rubricated incipits, explicits, and running-titles executed in manuscript, first letter of sentences highlighted with red, numerous red or blue two-line initials in manuscript as well as eight large initials (including two beautiful red and blue puzzle initials with floral and vegetal marginal extenders in red and blue ink), extensive Latin and Greek marginal annotations in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century hands, nineteenth-century brown morocco, elaborately decorated in a Grolieresque style, some tooling on boards apparently added over earlier tooling, spine with raised bands in six compartments, monogrammed initials of a nineteenth-century owner added to each compartment, housed in a nineteenth-century red morocco slipcase, occasional marginal spotting, final 45 leaves with neat repairs to small wormholes (mostly marginal), a few leaves with marginal dampstaining, worming to spine

FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST DATED BOOK PRINTED IN ITALY, THE FIRST DATED BOOK CONTAINING GREEK TYPE: A MILESTONE IN THE HISTORY OF PRINTING.

In c.1464, Konrad Sweynheym and Arnold Pannartz established a press at the Benedictine monastery of St. Scholastica at Subiaco—a location long regarded as the birthplace of printing in humanist Italy. Just four publications were printed at the monastery before the German printer-publisher duo established their second press at Rome: a grammar by Donatus (no copies of which are known), Cicero's De oratore, the present edition of Lactantius, and the works of St Augustine. As the colophon declares, the present volume was printed "die vero antepenultima mensis Octobris" (the day before the penultimate day of October). The publication date of 29 October 1565 gives it the distinction of being the very first dated book printed in Italy.

This work is also potentially the first book for which Greek type was cast. In the same year Peter Schöffer printed an undated edition of Cicero’s De Officiis and Paradoxa in Mainz. While the Greek type cast for the edition covered the full alphabet, it did not include accents and aspirations which had to be added manually. The Greek quotations in the text are not supplied consistently. It is likely that the Greek type was cast while the book was being assembled, as earlier quires leave space for the Greek quotations to be added by hand, while later on the letters are supplied in print and only the accents have been added manually. The present edition appears to contain the only surviving appearance of this Greek type (a new type was cast after the relocation of the workshop to Rome).

The workshop of Sweynheym and Pannartz specialised in creating aesthetically pleasing, large-format editions of classical and patristic texts which were in high demand by humanists and the curia in Rome. The present copy has been carefully annotated in multiple fifteenth- and sixteenth-century hands—giving intriguing material evidence of its use as a scholarly resource by humanist readers. Whilst a large proportion of extant copies have been decorated in an Italianate style, the large red and blue puzzle initials found in the present copy have a decidedly Germanic feel. The monastery at Subiaco was known as something of a German enclave from the mid-fifteenth-century onwards, so these initials are more likely to be the work of a resident monk than a German artist imported by the printers.

The present copy is notable for containing the two scarce leaves of errata by Antonius Raudensis, which appear not to have been issued with all copies. Of just seven copies that we can trace at auction in over a century, only three copies have the errata present: the Longleat copy (sold Christie's, 13 June 2002, lot 42), the Doheny copy (sold Christie's, 22 October 1987, lot 77), and the Ehrman copy (sold Sotheby Parke Bernet, 8 May 1978, lot 600).

This volume was offered by the London bookdealer Bernard Quaritch in their July 1883 catalogue of historic bindings. Quaritch's own marked-up copy of this catalogue records the buyer as "Astor" (presumably John Jacob Astor III). Quaritch presented this copy as a genuine example of a Grolier binding, with the 1883 asking price of £600 (c.£95,000 in today's money) reflecting this alleged illustrious provenance. The catalogue note waxes lyrical in a way that only a Victorian bookseller can:

"Editio Princeps... quite perfect with the two rare leaves of errata, Grolier's copy in the original smooth orange morocco binding... in a red morocco case... The ornamentation on the back of this marvellous volume is like the subsidiary arabesques on the sides, and it is still visible, although some Italian marquis in the seventeenth century had his own coronet and monogram superposed... Two of the compartments have been attacked by worms. The glorious sides, however, have only succumbed to time and lost somewhat of their freshness, but no worm or marquis has invaded the beauty of their rich decoration. Here is a combination of excellency seldom if ever attainable; a rare volume of the highest value and importance, clad in the precious robes of Grolier's library".

This volume is not listed in the standard censuses of Grolier bindings by Howard Nixon or Anthony Hobson, and the elaborate tooling and Grolier motto both appear to have been added in the nineteenth century on top of a plainer binding.

Lactantius is known as "the Christian Cicero" for his lucid and elegant prose works of Christian apologetics. Born in North Africa in c.240 AD, he enjoyed a successful public career as tutor and teacher of rhetoric—much like St Augustine. He was appointed a professor of rhetoric in Nicomedia on behest of emperor Diocletian, where he gained access to the inner imperial circle. After his conversion to Christianity, however, Lactantius resigned from his post in anticipation of Diocletian’s first edict which initiated one of the severest prosecutions of Christians in history. St Jerome writes that the Church Father subsequently lived in poverty before finding renewed favour with Constantine I. The new emperor not only appointed him as tutor to his son Crispus but also relied on him for guidance during the period when Christianity started to gain acceptance as a religion, ahead of its legalisation via the Edict of Milan.

PROVENANCE:

Coronet and monogrammed initials of a nineteenth-century marquis stamped to spine compartments; Bernard Quaritch, Catalogue no. 349: Books in historical or remarkable bindings, 1 July 1883, item 13010, bought by John Jacob Astor III (1822-1890); by descent

LITERATURE:

USTC No. 993709; ISTC il00001000; GW M16541; BSB-Ink L-2; Goff L-1; Polain(B) 2418; Martin Davies, "From Mainz to Subiaco. Illumination of the First Italian Printed Books", La stampa romana nella città dei papi e in Europa. (Vatican, 2016), pp. 9-42; Robert Proctor, The printing of Greek in the fifteenth century (Oxford, 1900).