Fine Printed Books & Manuscripts, Including Americana

Large folio. With an original leaf printed on vellum by Schoeffer, inserted at front. Original vellum-backed marbled boards; publisher's slipcase. [With:] Publisher's prospectus.

LIMITED EDITION, number 157 of 193 copies, CONTAINING AN ORIGINAL LEAF FROM SCHOEFFER'S GRATIANUS: a single leaf, 470 x 330 mm, printed in Mainz by Peter Schoeffer, ca 1472-1474, on vellum, 80 lines of commentary in 2 columns flanking 55 lines of text in 2 columns, 4-line and 2-line initials rubricated alternately in red and blue, likewise in headline, paragraph flourishes in red, printer's points at four corners which date this to before the second half of 1474, when the printer began to secure his sheets with two points only. The two short essays making up the text here are useful commentaries on the printer himself and on the origins, substance, and significance of Gratian's Decretum, the foundation of Roman Church law for more than five centuries. The main text is set in Schoeffer's 1462 "Bible type," generally considered to be his most beautiful and important typeface.

"From the advent of printing in Western Europe in the mid-fifteenth century, books printed on vellum have been viewed as particularly precious. Many of the earliest European books, including the Gutenberg Bible, were printed on vellum in addition to paper, and the vellum can achieve spectacular results in terms of clarity...The Decretum of Gratian stands out among leaf books with respect to the print quality of its leaf" (Joel Silver, Catalog of the Exhibition," in: Disbound and Dispersed 31.