OTTO VON PASSAU.

Boec des gulden thrones of der xxiiij ouden ende hoemen elken vinden mach ende van hoerren leringhen die si leren om te comen totten ewighen leven.

      A fine mixture of Christian and Pagan wisdom Haarlem, (Jacob Bellaert), 1484. Folio. Modern vellum.With large woodcut printer's device on verso of last leaf, 24 woodcut illustrations of one of the "Old Men" teaching a young female kneeling in front of him, printed from 4 different blocks, and all initials suplied by hand, incl. several beautiful large initials richly decorated and coloured by hand in red and purple with fine penwork in the margins, text rubricated throughout. (1 blank, 3), 136 (=135), (1) lvs. The second Dutch edition of Otto van Passau's religious instructive work, first published at Utrecht in 1480. "The Golden Throne of the 24 Old Men" is the only work known to have been left by Otto Von Passau, a Franciscan preacher who lived in the second half of the 14th century. The work is to be dated at 1383, and represents a fine mixture of Christian and Pagan wisdom. It is divided into 24 chapters, each containing a lecture by one of the old men of the Apocalipse, teaching nuns and brothers of lay orders a way of life which will lead them to the "Golden Throne" of eternal bliss. Each lecture has its own theme, like the essence of God and man, mourning, confession and penance, love, hope, the sacraments, friendship, death, the chosen, hell, the last things, etc. The work remained popular until the beginning of the 17th century. The book is finely printed in a good sized lettre bâtarde, in two columns, with 39 lines to a column. It is also most attractively illustrated with charming woodcuts, printed from four different blocks, which came originally from Haarlem block books. The first four leaves contain the table of contents and prologue. Our copy is furthermore richly and beautifully adorned with decorated initials in colour supplied by hand and rubricated throughout. Good large-paper copy, with contemporary owner's manuscript entry on verso of first blank, and early 17th century manuscript provenance on blank verso of the Prologue.- (Sl. thumbed and waterst., rather severily waterst. at the end; margins of last leaves restored without loss of text). Goff O 125; Campbell 1343; Hain-Copinger 12132; Polain 2941; Oates 3649; Proctor 9171; BMC IX, 101.