Quadragesimale de Filio Prodigo, 1497. With 18 full page woodcuts

1497. Basel: Michael Furter, 1497. Chained binding. Basel: Michael Furter, 1497. Chained binding. A Quirky Collection of Illustrated Lenten Sermons [Meder, Johannes]. [Brant, Sebastian (1458-1521)]. Quadragesimale Novum Editum ac Predicatum a Quoda[m] Fratre Minore de Observantia in Inclita Civitate Basilien[si]. De Filio Prodigo et de Angelo Ipsius Ammonitione Saliburi Per Sermones Divisum. Basel: Michael Furter, 1497. [232] ff. With an index and 18 full-page woodcuts. Collation: a-z8, A-F8. Octavo (6" x 4"; 15.5 x 10.5 cm). Contemporary calf over wooden boards, blind rules and stamping to boards, later paper label to front board and brass catches to fore-edge, straps mostly perished, evidence of a former chain binding to rear board, raised bands, blind fillets, later shelf number and fragment of paper label to spine, manuscript-waste pastedowns. Light rubbing and a few small scuffs and wormholes to boards, small nick to rear board from removed chain binding, moderate rubbing to extremities, a few small nicks to spine and joints, chip to head of spine, front joint starting at head, both joints just starting at foot, corners bumped and lightly worn, hinges cracked, small monogram bookplate of Helmut N. Friedlaender to front pastedown, faint penciled marks to pastedowns and final leaf. Text in gothic type in single and double columns, rubricated in red ink with occasional capitals in red and blue. Light toning to interior, more moderate in places, light soiling in a few places, a few small wormholes to text block of approximately first 100 and last 25 leaves, legibility not affected, minor worming to foot and fore-edge of title page, which is detaching at foot, without loss to text. An appealing copy in a contemporary binding. $12,500. * Second edition. A collection of 50 brief sermons on the parable of the prodigal son, told by Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. In the parable, a man with two sons gives the younger son his inheritance early at his request; he then leaves home and squanders the money, falling into poverty. He resolves to return home as a servant in his father's house, but when he does, the father welcomes him back as a son. The story is the third and final entry in a sermonic cycle on redemption, and is traditionally read on the fourth Sunday of Lent. The 18 full-page woodcuts in our title illustrate various aspects of the story; the seventh and eighth woodcut, depicting the prodigal so.