Jacobus de Voragine

Golden legend [single leaf]

      [Westmynster:: Wynkyn de Worde,, 1498].. Irregular in the margins and the recto of the leaf with old ink crossing out. The page with the woodcut in very good condition. . Small folio (27.5 cm; 10.5"). [1] f. . Folio xv of this edition of The Golden Legend has on its verso the beginning of "The Passyon of our lorde" and starts with a dramatic woodcut (8.8 x 7 cm; 3.5" x 2.75") of Christ on the Cross, his side having just been pierced by a pikeman and with a crowd of on-lookers to his left, including a fainted Mary.#11; The text is printed in double-column format in English gothic type. The printer, Wynkyn de Worde (a.k.a., Jan van Wynkyn) was England's first typographer and worked with William Caxton, England's first printer. In 1495, he took over Caxton's print shop, but only after a difficult three-year litigation following Caxton's death in 1491.#11; Provenance: Sold by Dauber & Pine (NY), the firm having dismembered an incomplete copy of the work and offered the individual leaves each with a letter-press leaf serving as ad hoc title-page. #11; English incunable leaves with woodcuts are increasingly difficult to obtain. That this Golden Legend leaf bears the image at the heart of its matter makes it a particularly desirable one.