Sponsalitium animae

      [Florence, Bartolommeo di Libri?], (20 September 1503) 8vo. 74ff. (of 76, lacks d1 & 4). Fine woodcut, partly coloured in blue, red and green by a contemporary hand, on verso of f.4 within a white-on-black border (shaved at the fore-margin), first initial supplied in blue, small letters in blank spaces for initials supplied by a contemporary hand, minor repair at foot of last leaf, in early twentieth century vellum. FIRST EDITION of this rare mystical devotional work by a Dominican, variously identified as Benedetto di Paolo or Benedetto degli Alessandri, in which the author treats of the union of the soul with Christ with the concomitant mortification of the senses, and the various pitfalls and temptations which the soul must suffer. This is exemplified by the fine woodcut showing two hands holding a ring below the dove of the Holy Ghost, which Rava describes as ‘composition très originale…d’une valeur décorative tout à fait remarquable’ With a few contemporary marginalia and light corrections in the text. CARLO ENRICO RAVA’S COPY with his bookplate.Censimento CNCE 46574 (one copy); Sander 7060 (unseen by him); Rava 7060* and pl.73; Mortimer 584; not in Adams or OCLC; only the Houghton copy located by RLIN