NILUS OF ANCYRA, St.: PIRCKHEIMER, W. (trans.)

Beatissi Patris Nili episcopi & martyris theologi antiquiss. Sente[n]tia morales e Greco in Latinum versae; Bilibaldo Pircheimero Norimbergensi interprete.

      Pamphilus Gegenback, Basel 1518 - Modern wrappers 4to . New edition of Willibald Pirckheimer's (1470-1530) translation of the Sententiae morales of St. Nilus of Ancyra (c. ca. 430), 5th century abbot and ascetic writer, who was one of the many disciples and fervent defenders of St. John Chrysostom (cf. New Cath. Enc. X, p. 470). Willibald was one of the greatest German patrons of scholars and artists of the period as well as being a first rate scholar whose writings and translations were highly regarded. He composed the obituary of his lifelong friend and sometime collaborator Albrech Durer in 1528 (cf. Contemp. of Erasmus, III, p. 90). He dedicated the present work to his sister Klara who "was no exception to the remarkable level of education and culture for which the female members of the pirckheimer family were famous . Willibald dedicated to her his edition of Nilus' Sententiae mroales (Nuremberg: F. Peypus 1516); in the same year he conveyed Klara's greetings to Erasmus" (Contemp. of Erasmus, III, p. 90). The dedicatory letter's date has been changed from 1516 to 1518. OCLC locates only one copy at the Bridwell Library at SMU [16]. Title within woodcut borders, woodcut initials and half-page woodcut at the end of Mary with an angel. Contemporary annotations on the last blank leaf. § BM/STC German 654; Catalogue of valuable printed books from the Broxbourne Library,; 62. [Attributes: Soft Cover]