ALBERTUS MAGNUS.

Ad logica pertinentia. De quinque universalib' liber unus. De decem predicamentis liber unus. De interpretatione libri duo. De sylogismo simpliciter. i. priorum analyticorum libri duo. De demonstratione. i. posteriorum analyticorum libri duo. Typicorum libri octo. De sophisticis elenchis libri duo.

      (Venice Johannes & Gregorius de Gregoriis) 1494 Folio. Beautiful cont. blindstamped full pigskin binding over wooden boards. 4 raised bands on spine. Blindstamped ornamental centre-piece and frame depicting animals, trees and hunters. W. the original metal- and leather-clasps. A few wormholes to boards. Inner hinges cracked but fastened w. new endpapers. Fairly faint, mostly marginal, dampstaining throughout. First and last leaves w. some staining, soiling and wormholes. Some marginal 16th century notes. Generally nice and clean copy, apart from the dampstaining, which is otherwise mostly marginal. Some smaller and larger woodcut diagrams in text. Ff. (8), 98 (= a1 - (qvi) ), (78) (= rr - Cvi), ff. 98 - 243 (r - (OO6) + 3 ff.). (In all 433 ff.), printed in double columns, w. 65 lines to each. The scarce first complete edition of the seminal Logic of Albert the Great. Parts of this work had been printed in 1490 (the first three books, printed by Christophorus de Canibus at Pavia), but it is not until this incunable-edition of 1494 that the work appears in its entirety. The actual text of thelogic in this edition is preceded by an index (12pp) and Nicolaus Judecus' "Laurentium..." (3 pp.). Albert the Great (or Albertus Magnus or St. Albert), who was born around 1200 and died in 1280, is considered the most prominent of the Scholastics. He was the first Christian thinker to undertake an analysis of the entire canon of the works of Aristotle, and as such he came to influence Christian medieval thinking immensely. Especially his application of Aristotelian logic to Catholic theology came to found the basis for all later medieval thinking, and his logic directly influenced Thomas Aquinas' "Summa Theologica". With his scientific works and commentaries to Aristotle, Albert the Great is considered the introducer of Greek and Arabic science and philosophy to the West, and this greatest of scholars uses his logic to advocate a peaceful coexistence between science and religion. He was one of the first medieval scholars to apply Aristotle's philosophy and logic to Christian thought, and as such his influence on medieval thinking has been nearly unsurpassed. Most modern knowledge of Aristotle, including that of his logical writings, was preserved and presented through Albert, and his great amount of works, amounting to somewhat of an encyclopaedic cycle, were all based on his logic and strict thinking, combined with his Christian doctrine. His main argument in his scholastic teachings was that sound philosophy (i.e. that based on logic) can never contradict the revelation of God. Albert's Logic is perhaps one of his most important writings, as this was the dominating strand of thinking for much of the Middle Ages. It is logic in this sense that makes up the basis for philosophy, science, and in Albert's case also of theology, in the Middle Ages, and thus his logic comes to understream all of his thinking, since it is that which presents us with the nature and practice of philosophizing. "Historians have indeed been agreed in giving him a central role in making Aristotle the supreme human authority for university theologians. Yet a glance at his Aristotelian commentaries shows that Albert's Aristotelianism is mixed with a host of characteristically Neoplatonic themes and views... Thanks to Alain Libera, however, it is now clear that, at least in one main aspect of his work, Albert is putting forward a bold and clear view, not so much about any individual problem in philosophy as about the nature and aim of the very practice of philosophizing." (Marenbon, Medieval Philosophy, 1998, p. 230). "When Aristotle's non-logical works were translated, they were at first suspect because they came into circulation with the pantheistic interpretation of the Arabic philosopher Averroës (Ibn Roshd, 1126-98), who lived and worked in Spain. But in the course of the thirteenth century they were freed from suspicion and reconciled with Christianity by Albert the Great (1193-1280) and St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-74)." (Kneale, The Development of Logic, 1962, p. 229). Albert's importance and influence continued to flourish throughout the Middle Ages, and there can be no question as to the importance of this first printing of the Logic in its entirety. Graesse I: 54 (stating 331 ff. à 2 col. de 65 l.), Hain: 486, Not in Brunet.