(Hymns) Expositio hymnorum | A hybrid Heinrich Quentell incunable

(Hymns)

Expositio hymnorum. Cologne: Heinrich Quentell, 12 June 1494/8 October 1496

4to (204 x 138 mm). Large title-page woodcut of a teacher lecturing four youthful scholars, gothic types, lines variable plus headline. Collation: A–D^8.6 E–H^8.6 I–K⁶ L⁴ M⁶: 78 leaves; some light dampstaining to final four quires. Contemporary south German blind-panelled calf over boards. brass catch on front cover; clasp lost, rather worn, spine restored, recased with new endpapers.

An intriguing hybrid copy of Quentell's Expositio hymnorum. This influential Latin hymnology went through some fifty incunable editions, beginning with Johann Koelhoff's editio princeps, Cologne, 1476 (ISTC ie00144750, not in Goff); Quentell printed the text six times. This volume combines sheets from his edition of 8 October 1496 (quires A–D, F–K and the inner sheet of quires E and M) and his edition of 12 June 1494 (the outer sheet of quires E and M). It happens that the few leaves from the 1494 edition include the colophon (M5r), so it is under the entry for this edition that the present copy—one of seven in the United States—is cited in Goff.

REFERENCES

BMC I 282 (IA 4622), I 286 (IA 4652); Goff E153, E156; GW 13708, 13715; ISTC ie00153000, ie00156000

PROVENANCE

Albert Doezema