Beschreibung:

Thomas Aquinas. De Veritate, edited by Ioannes Franciscus Venetus, second edition, collation: [14 210 38 410 58 610 7-88 9-1010 118 1210 138 1410 158 1610 17-198 20-2110 2210 2310 248 2510 268 2710 288 2910 308 3110 328 3310 348 3510 368 3710 38-398], [344] leaves, text in double column, 42 lines, type: 106 (108)R., upper and lower blank margins of first and last leaves water-stained, old repairs to gutter and outer blank margin of last leaf, foxing in places, a few tiny worm-holes to blank outer margin of last leaves, without any loss, copiously annotated in an early hand, 19th-century hazel morocco over pasteboards, covers richly gilt-tooled with concentric border of fillets and floral rolls, central space filled with ondulated friezes, Massimo family lion crest stamped in gilt at outer corners, spine with four raised bands, compartments with Massimo crest surrounded by large foliate friezes, title and imprint lettered in gilt 'S. Thomae Aquin. Quaestiones' and 'Romae XX. Ian. MCCCCLXXVI. Arnold. Pannartz in Domo Clari Civ. Petri de Max.', early shelfmark on 19th-century paper label, title inked on edges in an early hand, marbled pastedowns and endpapers, corners and board edges slightly rubbed, folio (334 x 230 mm), Rome, Arnoldus Pannartz, 20 January 1476. ⁂ A handsome wide-margined copy, in a richly gilt-tooled armorial binding executed for the distinguished Roman Massimo or Massimi family, of the second edition of the Quaestiones de veritate, which first appeared in Cologne in 1475. The volume was issued by the German printer Arnoldus Pannartz, who, in partnership with Conradus Sweynheym, had introduced printing to Italy in 1465 with their first press at the Benedictine monastery of St. Scholastica at Subiaco, and then also to Rome in 1468. The De veritate was composed by the great theologian and philosopher Thomas Aquinas in about 1257 during his first period of teaching at the University of Paris, where he had received his bachelor's degree only a year earlier, in 1256. The work is cast in the form of quaestio disputata - academic debates around a proposed thesis, divided into arguments or questions - and deals with the central concepts of truth, opinion, and faith. The copy described here is also of the greatest importance and distinction because of its provenance, having once belonged, as evinced by the lion's crest stamped on its fine binding, to the Massimo family, whose name is closely related to the history of printing in Rome. In 1467, after having printed some books in Subiaco, Sweynheym and Pannartz moved to Rome where they established their new press in the house of noblemen 'Franciscus and Petrus de Maximis', near Piazza Navona. Here they published a total of 51 editions. Their partnership broke up in 1473 because of Sweynheym's death, but Pannartz continued printing in the Massimo palace on his own until 28th March 1476. He produced 12 editions, all issued - as the colophon of the De veritate states - 'in domo clari Petri De Maximi'. This edition of Thomas Aquinas is one of the last books produced by Pannartz. It is thus entirely possible that the copy presented here, finely rebound in the 19th century, was given as a gift by the German printer to his wealthy Roman patron. Provenance: from the library of the Massimo Princes, Rome. Literature: H 1420*; GW M46347; BMC iv, 62; IGI 9561; Goff T-180; P. Farenga, "Le vie della stampa: da Subiaco a Roma", Subiaco, la culla della stampa. Atti dei Convegni Abbazia di Santa Scolastica, 2006-2007, Roma 2010, pp. 39-51; Ceccarius [G. Ceccarelli], I Massimo, Roma 1954.