Gerson, Jean de Charlier de

Prima pars operum magister Johannis de Gerson. Secunda pars operum Johannis de Gerson. Tertia pars Joannis Gersonis/ que meditandi rationem & mysticam Theologia[m] in se co[m]plectitur

      [Basel: Nicolaus Kesler, 12 March 1489]#11;[Strassburg: Martin Flach, 13 December 1494]#11;[Basel: in off. Adami Petri, sumptu Ludouici Hornken, & Godofredi Hitorpij, 1517]. Three folio volumes, 11.6 x 8 inches. Volume I: 1 [8], 2 [6], 3 [8], 4 [8], 5 [8], 6 [8] (Lacking the final blank of the table, 6 [8]); a8, b-m6, n-o8, p6, q8, r6, s8, t6, v8, w-x6, y8, z6, [turned r]8, [con]6, [cum]8, [orum]8. 188 leaves. Volume II: A-B8, C-Z6/8, aA-iI8/6, kK-nN8. (Lacking the final blank nN8.) 258 leaves. Volume III: aa-zz6, aA4, bB-zZ6, [2 turned rOs]6, [2 conOs]6, [2 orumOs]6. Volumes one and two both feature stunning full-paged woodcuts of Gerson. Because the set is made from three different editions, each has its own version of this impressive image. KeslerOs is said to have been done by Albrecht Durer when he was an apprentice. Whether this is true is an open question, however that one woodcut is made in imitation of the other is irrefutable. All elements are present both images: Gerson in his hat, with his shield and staff, a dog at his feet, a town in the background. However, the composition, the style, the execution are unique in each print, and the careful consideration of similarities and differences between the images yields fruitful insights. These copies are bound in full uniform seventeenth-century pale yellowish-green reversed calf. The spines are brown, and tooled in gold. The spines must have been painted or stained brown before tooling. Some boards have been chewed by rodents, with loss to board edges and blank margins of the last few signatures of the third volume. Volume two is rubricated in red and blue throughout. It is possible that this set was put together as early as 1517. The three volume have been together since the seventeenth century for certain, when they were put into these uniform bindings. The original sewing structures of the volumes seem to have been preserved by the seventeenth century binder. He trimmed the books to the same size and added endbands. The spines are tooled in gilt with the same tools. However, the sewing supports are in different locations on each volume, which suggests that they retain their original sewing. . Jean Charlier de Gerson, oldest of twelve children born to a peasant family in rural France, became chancellor of the University of Paris at the tender age of thirty-two. He was one of the most prominent figures in the ecclesiastical disputes regarding reform of the Catholic church in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. During the Great Schism, the church had two Popes: Benedict XIII (now known as the OAntipopeO), in Avignon, and Gregory XII in Rome. Gerson and his colleague Pierre dOAilly wanted both Popes to resign. They organized the Council of Pisa (1409), and Gerson penned a tract supporting his idea that the rival Popes should both step down and be replaced by a new Pope. This tract also contains GersonOs statement of the fundamental notion of the Oconciliar theory,O i.e., a council can supersede the authority of the Pope when the good of the church requires it. This argument took on even greater importance in subsequent centuries when the Reformation of the Catholic church was in full swing. Gerson was at it again in the Council of Constance in 1414. At this time, three different men were claiming to be the rightful Pope. The Council resulted in the Articles of Constance, which finally got the church back down to one Pope by 1417. Also at the Council of Constance, alongside dOAilly again, Gerson spearheaded the condemnation of John Huss. Huss was tried on the charge of heresy at the Council, found guilty, and then burned at the stake.#11;After Gerson turned against his powerful former patron, the Duke of Burgundy, he retreated to a life in the country. The Duke of Burgundy had the Duke of Orleans killed, and then publicly justified his act by means of a lawyer, Jean Petit, who argued that the murder of a tyrant is legal. Gerson found this notion repugnant, and made his views public. However, this unpopular opinion forced Gerson into a sort of exile. His later years were spent more humbly in the theological education of young people.#11;#11;This set is made up of three separate imprints of three-volume editions of GersonOs works. Volume one was printed in 1489 by Nicolaus Kesler, in Basel. The second volume, printed by Martin Flach in Strassburg in 1494, is a direct reprint of the Kesler edition. Volume three was printed in Basel in 1517. #11;