Books and Manuscripts

Aquinas, Thomas
Expositio (Postilla) in Job
(Esslingen): Conrad Fyner, 1474. First edition. Folio. 103 (of 107) leaves; lacking the Table (as in some copies). Gothic type; 42 lines. Rubricated initials in red, seemingly in multiple hands. Full 19th-century crimson morocco, stamped in gilt; all edges gilt; patterned endpapers; by James Adams, Dublin; scattered soiling and dampstaining throughout text; old ink inscription at head of first leaf now largely erased; contemporary marginalia in red and in black. From the library of Frederick William Conway, with “Bibliotheca. Conoviana. Dublinii. M.D.CCC.XXXIV.” stamped in gilt on front front paste-down. ISTC it00236000; Goff T236; Hain 1397; GW M46296; Bod-Inc T-12; BMC II 513; Proctor 246

Rare first edition of Thomas Aquinas's line-by-line commentary on the book of Job--the only fifteenth-century edition of this work, and the first by printer Conrad Fyner to bear his name and a date in the colophon. Originally written in the early 1260s while in Orvieto, Aquinas's commentary emphasizes that Job's misfortunes were not the result of divine disfavor, and that his suffering was a means for Job to gain self-knowledge, but also to provide future generations with a model of endurance through hardship. A second edition was printed in Venice in 1505, which was followed by a 1520 edition in Lyons. The four leaf table--wanting here-- is presumed to have been included in other copies after the initial publication, as it is not found in several copies, and has been noted as being printed on different paper stock.

Fyner was the only fifteenth-century printer active in Esslingen, Germany. His press was active in that city between 1473 and 1477, and he printed over 40 works. He later established the first printing shop in Urach, Germany.

This is only the fourth copy we can locate at auction in the past 38 years.