TERTULLIANUS, Q. SEPTIMUS FLORENS (TERTULLIAN). - [EDITIO...

Opera inter latinos ecclesiae scriptores primi, sine quorum lectione nullum diem intermittebat olim diuus Cyprianus, per Beatum Rhenanum. Seletstadiensem è tenebris eruta atque à situ pro uirili uindicata, adiectis singulorum librorum argumentis & alicubi coniecturis, quibus uetustissimus autor nonnihil illustratur. Quorum catalogum proxima pagina reperies.

      Basel, Froben, 1521, June. Folio. Blindstamped half vellum, wooden boards, with clasps. One clasp missing at back board. Remains of old paper title-label at spine. Larger lack of vellum at lower capital. Lack of wood at back board, where clasp was placed. Boards with numerous small worm-holes. First 1/4 of leaves with worm-holes, also to text, mostly small holes (therefor no significant loss of text). Worming worse at beginning, lessening throughout. Last part of index also with a bit of worming. Beautiful woodcut ornamental title-border by Ambrosius Holbein, 2 more beautiful metal-cut ornamental borders by Faber after H. Holbein the Younger. Numerous beautiful and excellent initials (also after Holbein), large and small, and vignettes. Beautiful half-page woodcut printer's device (Froben) to blank verso before index, and the same in a bit descaled version at the blank verso after index - both after Holbein. ¶ Editio princeps, being the excellent and beautiful first edition of the works of Tertullian, the Rheanus-edition, printed by Froben with the excellent elaborate metal-cut borders and initials drawn by Holbein and executed by Faber - the work constitutes a most excellent piece of book printing, uniting three of the greatest printing geniuses of the time, each within their field.The text in itself is of great importance, first, because it constitutes the first printing of the works of Tertullian, and second because the Tertullian-manuscripts that Rheanus had collected the from German libraries and compared in order to give a thorough examination of the actual texts of author, do no longer exist; the present work is therefore a highly important philological source to the works of the renowned early Christian author, who is considered the "Father of Latin Christianity" and was the first author to write Christian Latin literature. Johann Froben (1460-1527) counts as one of the most important and famous Basel-printers and -publishers, famed for his accuracy and fame. He was a good friend of Erasmus, who highly estimated him, and who superintended many of his works, e.g. the Opera of Tertullian. Faber's fame also rests upon the fact that he employed some of the very best illustrators of the time. For instance he employed Hans Holbein the Younger to illustrate some of his texts, as well as the the famous engraver and block-cutter Jacob Faber or Master IF, as he is known due to the monogram with which he signed his prints.Jacob Faber, or Jecques Lefèvre (not to be confused with the Renaissance humanist d'ètaples) which was probably his original French name, was a highly important block-cutter of both woodcuts and metalcuts as well as engraver, designer of decorative prints, such as initials and borders, and publisher. He was active in Basel and later in France in the period 1516-1550. He is most famous for the beautiful metal-cut title-page borders and book illustrations that he made to the designs of Hans Holbein the Younger, whom he worked closely with, in Basel in the 1520'ies. It is in Froben's office that the very first metalcut was produced in Basel (in 1518), and It is very likely that Faber was the executer of this, as he had then been employed by Froben; in any case, Faber became Froben's main cutter in metal very early on. During the 1520'ies, Froben had also employed Hans Holbein the Younger, and Faber began working together with him, creating metalcuts made after his designs. In the very beginning, the technique was not very elaborated, and the earliest of these metal-cuts are a bit crude. However, Faber's technique quickly improved, presumably because of Holbein's growing interest in this technique and Faber's work, which meant that he began actually working with him, instead of merely handing over his designs. In 1521 Froben produces the works of Tertullian, and in this excellent work we find one of the prime examples of this magnificent collaboration: The "Title-pager Border with Tantalus", in which there is clearly distinguished between surface and textures. The other metal-cut title-border and the many initials are also of the highest quality.The work was reproduced in 1528, and a new edition appeared in 1539 (with a counterfeit-edition in 1545).Graesse, VII:69, Brunet, V:729 ("La première édition de Tertullian est celle de Bâle, J. Froben, 1521, in-fol., publiée par Beatus Rheanus").