Coelifodina Absconditos.

Joseph Von Paltz. Coelifodina Absconditos. Scripurae Thesauros Pandens . . . Bound with Supplementum coelifodinae . . .

Two volumes bound in one. Text in Latin. Illustrated with 2 full-page woodcut title pages and 2 woodcut printer's device. Thick 4to. Bound in early 16th-century blind-stamped pigskin over wooden boards (without the original clasps and metal bosses). Printed in Leipzig by Martin Landsberg, 1511 (Coelifodina) and 1510 (Supplementum coelifodinae). Third Edition of the Coelifodina (first printed in 1502). Second Edition of the Supplementum coelifodinae (first printed in 1504).

Johann Von Paltz was a prominent German Augustinian theologian and one of Martin Luther's teachers at Erfurt. He played an important role in forming Luther's theological views. "Luther began by teaching a spirituality that contrasted sharply with Paltz's, but . . . as the indulgence controversy unfolded, Luther swerved onto a track much closer to Paltz, as he emphasized the power of absolution. . . Luther, formed as a 'Staupitzian' theologian-for-piety, became in part a 'Paltzian' in 1518, as he began teaching a lived religiosity anchored in the reliable sacramental mediations of grace and salvation. . .." Paltz "belongs to a group of quintessential 'eve of the Reformation' figures in Germany, whose works are rich in potential for deepening our understanding of the milieu from which Martin Luther emerged. (Wicks (Gregorianum, Vol. 87, Issue 4.)

Paltz's Coelifodina and Supplementum coelifodinae were both intended as resource-books for parochial clergy and others engaged in popular preaching. The Coelifodina, was a Latin translation and expansion of his vernacular work Die Himmlische Fundgrube, published in 1490. In both works the focus is on penance, and both works use the passion of Christ as the exemplary instrument to lead the sinner to the confessional. The Latin version also gives detailed instructions to the preacher of penance regarding how Christ's passion should be presented to achieve the maximum effect. And behind both works was the recommendation of indulgences.


A wide strip of a medieval liturgical manuscript on vellum (circa 1200) in an early gothic hand, with rubrics in red, used as a spine-liner, is protruding at gutter between the front pastedown and the first title-page. Also, a small vellum tab cut from a late-Romanesque (11th- or 12th-century) manuscript attached to fore-edge of the second title-leaf.

Binding rubbed; corners worn. Original clasps, catches and bosses removed, leaving several small holes in both covers (retaining just two metal plates to which clasp-straps were attached). A few tiny worm-holes to boards. Without free endpapers (as bound?). Front pastedown with two small abrasions revealing the wooden board and the binding cords. The first title-page slightly soiled, and with an early monastic ownership inscription to top margin, also with a faded round ink-stamp to outer margin. Some marginal damp-staining and small wormholes (not affecting text). Neat 16th-century ink foliation numbering on rectos. Some neat marginalia in 16th-century hand, and early notations. Adhesion traces to blank verso of the final leaf. Armorial bookplate of George Stapylton Barnes on front pastedown. Generally, a very bright, clean, and solid volume, unrestored, with wide margins, and preserved in an attractive Renaissance binding.