DURANDUS (DURANTI), GULIELMUS; MONTROCHER, GUY DE; FUSIGNA, JACQUES; RAIMOND, BISHOP OF VALENCIA; IN

RATIONALE DIVINORUM / BOUND WITH / MANIPULUS CURATOR(UM) BY GUIDO DE MONTE ROCHERII / WITH / ARS PREDICANDI BY JACQUES FUSIGNA. [PRINTER OF THE 1483 JORDANUS DE QUEDLINBURG (GEORG HUSNER)], STRASSBURG: SEPT. 1, 1488 / / JOHAN KOELHOFF, LUBECK COLONIE [COLOGNE]: 1487.

      Three works in one. 1. Rationale Divinorum. 264 leaves. Title page mounted, with loss of blank portion. First signature with damp damage, but no real loss of text. 2. Manipulus curator(um). 68 leaves. Some light marginal damping. Some marginal worm holes. 3. Ars predicandi. 16 leaves (last blank) printed continuously with the preceding work. Last few leaves wormed and damped with some slight loss. Gothic Latin text. Double column. Folio. 215 x 310 mm. The original, highly decorated leather boards are preserved over a modern leather binding. The boards are blind tooled with: sixteen small stamps showing a rampant lion within a diamond frames; ten small madonna stamps in circular frames; and a lettered mari(a) ribbon stamp repeated over forty times. Though much of the decoration has perished, and what remains is worn - this is a wonderful survival of a fifteenth century binding. When all the prescriptions for celebration of the liturgy are gathered into a single volume, that book is termed an ordinal. If a book contains only the directions for sacraments administered by a bishop, it is called a pontifical. Over time, the ceremonial was studied by authors who attempted to explain its allegory and codify its practice; and the most complete of such treatises, the Rationale divinorum officiorum, was composed in 1286 by Guilelmus Durandus, Bishop of Mende [Ca. 1230-1296], also known as Duranti or Durantis. He was born at Puimisson, near Beziers, of a noble family of Languedoc. He studied law at Bologna, especially with Bernardus of Parma, and about 1264 was teaching canon law with success at Modena. Clement IV., his fellow-countryman, called him to the pontifical court as a chaplain and auditor of the palace, and in 1274 he accompanied Clement's successor Gregory X. to the council of Lyons, the constitutions of which he drew up, along with some other prelates. In the midst of the struggles between Guelfs and Ghibellines, Durandus successfully defended the papal territories, both by diplomacy and by arms. Honorius IV. retained him in his offices, and although elected bishop of Mende in 1286, he remained in Italy (with a few absences) until his death. His principal work is the 'Speculum judiciae' - a general explanation of civil, criminal and canonical procedure, and contracts. Scarcely less important is this 'Rationale Divinorum' - a liturgical treatise written in Italy before 1286, on the origin and symbolic sense of the Christian ritual. It presents a picture of the liturgy of the 13th century in the West, studied in its various forms, its traditional sources, and its relation to the church buildings and furniture. It is one of the main authorities on Western liturgies. The 'Manipulus Curatorum' of Guy de Montrocher and the appended 'Ars Predicandi' are among the most important of the practical manuals written for the use of the priests in the middle ages. They were "read to death" by generations of priests, which helps explain the incredible scarcity of the edition offered here. References: 1. Goff D 434; BMC I 138; Walsh 236; GKW 9135; Hain 6494. 2. Goff G-592 (Recording this copy only!); BMC I 227; Hain 8161. 3. Hain 7400. MOUNT BX1 Hardcover