HUS, Johannes, Pseudo-]

Gesta Christi.

      Memmimgen Albrecht Kunne 1498. - 4to. [18.3 x 13 cm], (12) ff. Bound in quarter vellum and blue boards, title calligraphed on spine in gothic letters. Ownership inscription (illegible) clearly dated 1569 on verso of final leaf. Blank gutter margin of title reinforced; washed; some minor residual staining in lower margin; otherwise good. Extremely rare edition (2nd; lst Speier 1472) of this condensed synopsis of the Life of Christ as taken from the Gospels. The work presents a number of historical riddles: that of intended audience and its function, and in addition, a number of bibliographical problems: who wrote it (Hus' name appears in neither incunable edition); why and when it was (mis-) attributed to the great Czech reformer and martyr Jan Hus, none of whose generally accepted works was published before 1522, and whose collected works were published in Nuremberg in 1558. In the latter volume, the present tract was included (more on which below).Textually, the work presents the principal events of the Passion narrative in simple Latin, giving citations for the relevant passages in each Gospel. Generally there is a reference to a single passage, but occasionally there are two or three: the references are vague, providing chapter but not verse number. The text betrays no indication that the evangelists contradict one another, and why multiple sources are listed, however selectively, remains an open question. The present copy has been compared to the sole US copy (Beinecke) and the three copies in Munich, all of which lack watermarks. This suggests that the book was printed ?on the cheap? from the leftovers of larger folio sheets; the relatively rough quality of the printing corroborates the historical context and may provide a clue for the work's readership. This is in contrast to the first edition printed from Speier, a handsomely printed volume in two columns in small folio format, which utilizes two columns and a much larger gothic font, and was printed on better paper stock. The present copy has been compared to the Morgan copy of the Speier edition: textual collation suggests no differences save abbreviations and variant spelling of place names. There is no positive reason to believe that the present edition was taken from anything other than a copy of the first. As stated above, there is no positive evidence that in the 15th century, either of these editions were ascribed to Hus. The dates of publication 1472/1498 are arguably too early to reflect the Reformist appropriation of Hus as a precursor. The cause for the hypothetical misattribution appears to be the fact that the work was included in the first collected edition of the reformer's works in 1558, and then, apparently in error, retrojected back to the earlier, separate incunable editions by 18th- and 19th-century incunabulists. This error is perpetuated in modern incunable catalogues.Nonetheless, it raises an interesting question: from the standpoint of mid-16th-century Nuremberg Reformers, why was this considered a Hussite text? One should mention that the text also circulated in manuscript (ONB 2691/92). It is not uncommon for manuscripts of works to make their way into collected editions, but this still begs the question of why this was taken to be a Hussite text in the first place. Possibly the text's bare recitation of events was taken to be in line with the Hussite-Wyclif insistence on the Bible as the rule of faith, passionately proclaimed by Luther and later Reformers, but we leave to specialists the task of explaining the attribution. With thanks to Stephanie Fischer of the Incunable section of the BSB for checking the Munich copies.For the first edition (Speier 1472, H-557), Goff lists Huntington, LC (Thayer), Morgan, and the Scheide Librar [Attributes: First Edition; Hard Cover]