Lost Gospel, Reborn: A Medieval Manuscript Binding on a Paris Sermon Book

[Gospel of John] In Latin, binding of medieval manuscript waste. Probably German, 13th or 14th century
[with] HACQUEVILLE, Nicolas de. Sermones d[omi]nicales moralissimi et ad populum… Paris: François Regnault, [c.1515−1520]

8vo (140 x 95 mm)
Description
cxliiii [i.e. 156], [4] leaves ; Collation: a-v^8 ; Large woodcut printer’s device on title.

Condition
Old paper title label on front cover, partially obscured by more recent paper label. Missing text in the transition from sermons 59 to 60. Title and final page heavily soiled, with scattered mild soiling throughout; some marginalia trimmed; light dampstain to the first few gatherings; some marginal loss to the title (discreetly repaired), not affecting text. Recased with parchment, the medieval waste covers mounted atop this, new endpapers; additional repair at the head of the newer parchment spine, using manuscript waste; parchment wormed and heavily soiled.

A portable, undated edition of the 14th-century Franciscan preacher’s Sunday sermons, first printed around 1477 and followed by at least a dozen more editions through 1540. The present work was edited by Jean Quentin and Louis Vasseur.

Text
Little is known of the author, however it appears his sermons were popular throughout the late 15th and early 16th centuries due to the number of editions published. He preaches much on the soul, virtue, and sin. And in so doing, like so many preachers, he touches on the matters of everyday life: marriage and adultery, poverty and almsgiving, homicide, illness, and laziness.

Provenance

1. Annotated throughout in two or three early hands, with annotations on some 200 pages. Most is of the simple wayfinding variety, presumably to facilitate recall—very occasionally a brief nota bene, but largely topical headings and brief summaries penned in the margins.
2. Partially obliterated early ownership inscription at foot of title ‘Joannis’.
3. Ink stamp on title verso of the Hofbibliothek Donaueschingen, the library of the House of Fürstenberg, which began selling off its post-1500 printed books in 1999.

References

USTC 144814