SECUNDA PARS HISTORIALIS VENERABILIS DÑI ANTONINI

Basel: Nicolaus Kessler, 1502. 313 x 215 mm. (12 1/4 x 8 1/2"). 13 p.l. (blank b6 cut away), CCXL (240), [5] leaves (lacking final blank). Part II, only, of three..
Contemporary blind-stamped pigskin, raised bands, brass catch plates and remnant of two straps, thin strip of vellum from a 12th(?) century musical manuscript used as a sewing guard (visible before b1), rear cover WITH ORIGINAL IRON EYELET AND THREE LINKS OF CHAIN. Fo. I with 14-line Lombard initial in red, numerous four-line initials in red. VD16 A 2958; Adams A-1207; USTC 686502; ISTC ia00781500. ◆Pigskin rather rubbed and darkened, vertical split to spine, corners quite worn, but the binding still completely sound and with a good deal of antique appeal. Occasional minor marginal smudges and stains, one opening with half a dozen small wax stains (nothing obscured), but excellent internally, generally clean and fresh, with leaves that crackle when you turn them.

This history of the world up to the year 1360 comes in a pleasing example of a Renaissance chained binding, a design that announced to thieves and irresponsible borrowers that "this book does not circulate." Early ecclesiastical and scholastic libraries chained their most valuable books to a horizontal iron bar running along the desk where the volume would be used. An iron eyelet was typically set in the lower cover of the book, and a chain attached to this, ending in an iron ring, by which the book was fastened to the bar. This practice was common in the Middle Ages, when books were irreplaceable manuscripts, but fell out of use over the course of the 16th century, after which chained bindings became rare. It is not that uncommon to find an early binding with holes in the rear cover where the eyelet was attached, or even books where the eyelet is present, but it is a happy circumstance to find the chain still in place, as here. The present historical account is by Antonio Pierozzi (1389-1459), archbishop of Florence, canonized as St. Antoninus in 1523. He is best known for the "Summa Theologica," which earned him, in the Catholic Encyclopedia's words, "the place of honor in moral theology between St. Thomas and St. Alphonsus Ligouri." Although Antoninus unwisely accepted questionable accounts pertaining to the earlier periods of his history, "when writing of the events and politics of his own age he exercised a judgment that has been of the greatest value to later historians." (Catholic Encyclopedia) The history was first published at Venice in 1474-79, and went to four editions in the 15th century, the last being the 1491 printing from Nicolaus Kessler (or Kesler), on which this first 16th century edition is based. Kessler (ca. 1445 - ca. 1519) received his B.A. in Basel before going to work for printer Bernard Richel and marrying his employer's daughter. When Richel died in 1482, Kessler inherited the press..