Robertus Holkot, d. 1349

Quaestiones super IV libros Sententiarum

1497

1497

HC 8763*; BMC VIII 300; Goff H287; Kaplan 264; ISTC ih00287000; GW 12890

Shoults (Special Collections) Fc/1497/H

Lyons: Johannes Trechsel, 5-20 April 1497

Half bound leather over buckram. Boards detached. Spine cracked. Spine title reads: Roberti/ Holkot/ Quaestione/ Lugduni/ 1497.

Early title-page with provenance note, first page of text proper, colophon with printer's device.

The earliest printings in Lyons are some Latin devotional tracts by Pope Innocent III on 17 September 1473. The printer's name Guillaume Le Roy 'an expert in this typographic art' appears in the colophon. The German-born Johannes Trechsel was an important printer-cum-publisher in Lyons. He was a fellow countryman of Nicolaus Philippi and had presumably been his foreman, as after the latter's death, Trechsel married the widow and soon came into possession of the printing office. His first known book was Caracciolus's Lenten sermons 'de peccatis', printed 4th February 1488/89. Trechsel prided himself on accuracy, clearness of type, and handiness of format. It worked; there was always a steady demand for his productions. Unlike other Lyonnesse presses, he stuck to Latin works, and avoiding the vernacular. The scholar-printer Joducus Bodius Ascensius joined him in 1492. One result of this 'partenrship' was an illustrated edition of Terence in August 1493, which is Trechsels best-known work. He died in 1498; his successor was Johannes Clein. Trechsel's print device is present below the colophon.

A commentary on Peter Lombard's Sentences by the renowned English Dominican, Robert Holcot or Holkot, d. 1349. Lombard's 'Book of Sentences' was written about 1150 and in four books covers most theological matters: from God, the Trinity and predestination to the creation, the Ten Commandments and the Sacraments. Holcot was active in middle of the 14th century, was a Thomist in matters theological, and a follower of William Ockham in the field of philosophy and logic. While staying in London, he helped Richard de Bury with his Philobiblon, the classic early work on book collecting. Holcot lived most of his life in and around Northampton.

Paper [194] leaves; 285 x 205 mm (fol.).
Gothic type. Double columns.
F.1a Title-page: 'Magistri Roberti holkot Super quattuor libros sententiarum questiones...'
F.1b: Dedicatory letter of Josse Badius (co-editor with Augustinus de Ratisbona) dated 'Ex Lugduno. Xij kalendas Maias, 1497.'
Colophon: 'Huius operis diligeter impressi Lugduni a magro Iohane Trechsel alemano. anno salutis nostre. Mccccxcvij. ad nonas Aprilis. charte cosignate huiuscemodi characteribus.'
Rubricated (mostly red and some blue and yellow).

1. Ex bibliotheca collegij montisancti