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INCUNABULA 1500 BEDE History of England EUSEBIUS Rare!
This item SOLD on 7/1/2009 for $2,560.00
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[Early Printing - Strassburg] [Incunabula] [Church history] [Early Christianity] [Great Britain - History - Anglo-Saxon period] [Gothic Bindings - Germany] Strassburg: [Georg Husner], 14 March 1500. FIRST combined edition of the two most important and influential histories of the early Church, and the SECOND edition of Venerable Bede's great history of the English people, which was first printed at Strassburg, [c. 1475-78] by Eggestein. Books 1-9 of Eusebius are here translated from Greek into Latin by Tyrannius Rufinus (ca. 345-411), while Books 10-11 are a continuation of the History written by Rufinus himself. This edition is quite scarce in trade with no other copies currently offered for sale. Nakles' copy in 19th-century quarter vellum sold at Christie's NY in 2000 for $11,163. We are offering a complete, wide-margined example of this incunabulum in a superb South German gothic binding of blind-stamped calf over wooden boards with clasps. Eusebius of Caesaria (c. 263? - c. 339), advisor and confident to the Emperor Constantine the Great, wrote the history of the Christian Church from the Apostolic Age to the conversion of Constantine, when the Roman Empire became officially Christian. Rufinus of Aquileia, who translated Eusebius' work early in the 4th century, continued it to the death of the Emperor Theodosius in 395. Venerable Bede's immensely influential Ecclesiastical History "giving an account of Christianity in England from the beginning until his own day, is the foundation of all our knowledge of British history and a masterpiece eulogized by the scholars of every age... Bede's influence both upon English and foreign scholarship was very great... In numberless ways, but especially in his moderation, gentleness, and breadth of view, Bede stands out from his contemporaries. In point of scholarship he was undoubtedly the most learned man of his time." [Catholic Encyclopedia] One of the most important historical works on the history of the Church in England and of England in general, ( Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum ) was written by the Venerable Bede (672 - 735 A.D.), the great English historian and Doctor of the Church. It is believed to have been completed in 731, when Bede was approximately 60 years old. He was a monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Wearmouth (today part of Sunderland) and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow, both in the English county of Durham. Bede's 'Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum' ("Ecclesiastical History of the English People") was completed in 731. It is Bede's best and most popular work, and has gained him the title "the Father of English History". It is considered to be among the most important original sources on Anglo-Saxon history. The main focus of Bede's work is on the conflict between Roman and Celtic Christianity. Divided into five books, the Historia covers the history of England, ecclesiastical and political, from the time of Julius Caesar to the date of its completion (AD 731). The first twenty-one chapters, covering the period before the mission of Augustine, are compiled from earlier writers such as Orosius, Gildas, Prosper of Aquitaine, the letters of Pope Gregory I, and others, with the insertion of legends and traditions. After AD 596, documentary sources, which Bede took pains to obtain throughout England and from Rome, are used, as well as oral testimony, which he employed along with critical consideration of its authenticity. The History of the English Church and People has a clear polemical and didactic purpose. Bede sets out, not just to tell the story of the English, but to advance his views on politics and religion. In political terms he is a partisan of his native Northumbria, amplifying its role in English history over and above that of Mercia, its great southern rival. The only criticism he ventures of his native Northumbria comes in writing about the death of King Ecgfrith in fighting the Picts at Nechtansmere in 685. Bede attributes this defeat to God's vengeance for the Northumbrian attack on the Irish in the previous year. For while Bede is loyal to Northumbria he shows an even greater attachment to the Irish and the Irish Celtic missionaries, whom he considers to be far more effective and dedicated than their rather complacent English counterparts. His final preoccupation is over the precise date of Easter, which he writes about at length. Venerable Bede's scholarship and importance to Catholicism were recognised in 1899 when he was declared the only English Doctor of the Church. He is also the only Englishman mentioned among theologians and doctors of the church in Dante's Paradise (Paradiso X.130). Historia Ecclesiastica of Eusebius of Caesarea was a fourth-century pioneer work giving a chronological account of the development of Christianity from the first century. It was written in Greek , and survives also in Latin, Syriac and Armenian manuscripts. Eusebius (c. 263 ? c. 339) became the bishop of Caesarea Palaestina ca. 314. He is often referred to as the Father of Church History. Eusebius made use of many ecclesiastical monuments and documents, acts of the martyrs, letters, extracts from earlier Christian writings, lists of bishops, and similar sources, often quoting the originals at great length so that his work contains materials not elsewhere preserved. It is therefore of historical value, though it pretends neither to completeness nor to the observance of due proportion in the treatment of the subject-matter. Eusebius attempted according to his own declaration to present the history of the Church from the apostles to his own time, with special regard to the following points: The successions of bishops in the principal sees; The history of Christian teachers; The history of heresies; The history of the Jews; The relations to the heathen; The martyrdoms. Bibliographic references: Goff E-129; Hain-Copinger 6714*; BMC I, 162 (IB. 2377); BSB-Ink. E-113; GW 9439; Polain, 1430; Harvard/Walsh 304; Proctor 747; Rhodes, 750; Chrisman H5.2.2. Physical description: Chancery folio. Pages measure 272 mm x 200 mm. Bound in a contemporary (possibly original) South German (most likely Nuremberg or Strassburg) blind-stamped calf over wooden boards: front board with paneled design chiefly of floral scrolls, rear board with simple geometrical ruled paneling. Engraved brass clasps on leather thongs (one clasp lacking, replaced with modern reproduction), engraved brass catchplates. Spine with three prominent bands over binding coards. Old manuscript paper label to spine. Endpapers made of bifolia from an astronomical/astrological incunabulum in Latin printed in gothic type at Martin Landsberg's Leipzig press with his rare woodcut device (Davies 9) on the front pastedown (most likely from Faber de Budweis' Almanac or Prognosticon for Leipzig, or his Tabulae solis et lunae coniunctionum). Signature collation: p 6 a 8 b-n 6 o 8 p-z 6 , A-B 6 . 160 (of 160) unnumbered leaves (forming 320 pages). COMPLETE! Printed in gothic letter, in double column, 50 lines per column. Types: 5:156G (titles, headlines, chapter incipits), 6:80G (text). Three- to seven-line intial spaces, with printed guide letters (unrubricated). Headlines throughout; no catchwords. Title on p 1 r (p 1 v blank); Tabula on leaves p 2 r-p 6 r (p 6 v blank); half-title to Eusebius on a1r (a1v blank); text of Ecclesiastica historia diui Eusebii on leaves a 2 r-o 8 r (o 8 v blank); text of Ecclesiastica historia gentis Anglorum venerabilis Bede on leaves p 1 r-B 6 r). Colophon on leaf B 6 r (B 6 v blank). Condition: Good antiquarian condition. Binding rubbed, with a few scuff-marks. Some repairs to spine and rear board; one clasp lacking, replaced. Paper label to spine chipped and faded. One of the clasps perished (and replaced by a replica). The lower (blank) portion (about two-thirds) of title leaf (p 1 ) excised and neatly replaced with a sheet of antique (16th century) paper, with no loss of text. The upper portion (mostly the top margin) of leaves affected throughout by a rather considerable damp-staining (causing a slight softening to top edge in some leaves), and occasional soiling. Closed tear to top of leaf a 6 (without loss); a few short closed tears and a couple of small holes to the final leaf B 6 , which are not affecting legibility. Otherwise a generally clean, wide-margined copy in an attractive period binding. Please click on thumbnails below to see larger images. The winner must contact us within three days, and payment is due within 7 days after the auction's end. Please be responsible and do not bid if you are not intending to pay. We reserve the right to cancel bids from eBayers with no feedback or a history of negative feedback. This book will be shipped to any US location free of charge by FedEx. International shipping at cost. Happy bidding!
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