AUGUSTINUS, Aurelius (Pseudo-).

De vita christiana.

      c. 1470-75, Mainz, Peter Schoeffer - With 2 three-line initials, paragraph marks and capital strokes in red, Schoeffer's device in red at bottom of last leaf. Gothic type (type 3:91 G). 28 lines. 17 unn. leaves (of 18, lacking last blank). Small 4to (195 x 125 mm). 19th-century red morocco, gilt coat of arms of Gitton du Plessis (Olivier 510), gilt lettering on spine, gilt inner dentelles, edges gilt (by Duplanil; slight rubbing, minor repair to head of spine). From the collections of J.A.M. Gitton du Plessis (binding), and of John Pierpont Morgan (JPM booklabel; sold as duplicate at Sotheby's, 8 June 1971). (Mainz, Peter Schoeffer, c. 1470-75). A fine testimony to early printing in its second Schoeffer edition. Set in the Durandus type in its post-1466/67 state, which is the first small text type ever cut. This type was originaly made for the 1459 Durandus, which is the third dated book printed. The type is also closely related to Schoeffer's edition of Gerson, De custodia linguae (Mainz, not after September 1470). After Gutenberg had produced his famous 42-line Bible in 1455, he fell out with his associate Johann Fust. The latter teamed up with Peter Schoeffer, a calligrapher, later to become his son-in-law; together they continued to operate this first printing press. After a series of editions in large formats with extraordinary typography in colors (e.g. the 1457 Psalter), Fust and Schoeffer turned to producing books in smaller formats like the Pseudo-Augustinus, first printed between 1465-1466. After Fust's death in 1466, Peter Schoeffer flourished for about another thirty years, running his printing office as one of the most successful presses of Mainz. The tract "De vita christiana" is a Pelagian work of the fourth or early fifth century. It has been attributed to the British or Scottish monk Pelagius himself, or to his pupil Fastidius (see Dekkers, Clavis patrum latinorum, no. 740; Migne, Patrologia latina, 40: 1031 sqq; Hillard 236). - Some old underlinings and marginalia in faint brown ink, lower part of last leaf replaced with the Fust/Schoeffer device partly added in hand-painted facsimile. - Hain 2093*; GW 3039; BMC I, 37 (IA 270); Goff A-1356; BNCI A-774; Proctor 135; Pell-Pol 1580; Pol 428; Voulliéme (Berlin) 1547; BSB-Ink P 123 (also lacking last blank); Bibl. Apost. Vaticana A-587; Bod.-Inc. A-608; De Ricci, Catalogue raisonné des premières impressions de Mayence, no. 88bis (this copy listed under nos. 20-22); Weil,Druckerzeichen, p. 85. INCUNABLES ; RELIGION / THEOLOGY ; [Attributes: First Edition; Hard Cover]