Title: Opera: Sermones, Epistolae et alia Opuscula, 1494. The Complete Works of Kempis Including His Imitation of Christ and Meditations on the Incarnation of Christ, Nicely Rubricated
Author: Thomas a Kempis; Johannes Gerson; Geert Groote; Pseudo-Bonaventura
Publisher: Nuremberg, Caspar Hochfeder
Condition: Very Good
A late 15th century and second Hochfeder edition of the Complete Works of Thomas a Kempis, including his much-famed work, The Imitation of Christ, as well as Meditations on the Incarnation of Christ among others. Also included is de Meditatione Cordis by Gerson, Alphabetum Boni Monachi with Pseudo-Bonaventurian authorship, and de Vera Compuctione by Geert Groote
This work is beautifully rubricated throughout in red, with a heavily detailed and ornate initial at the beginning of the Imitation, and large, less ornate initials at the beginning of each work. There are also several initials and titles with flourishes.
This volume bears the ex-libris bookplate for one bookplate "Franciscus Praepositus S. Salvatoris Pollingae". This is the bookplate for the theologian Franziskus Töpsi (1711-1796), provost of the Augustinian Canonry of Polling and considered one of the most important representatives of the Catholic Enlightenment in Bavaria. Under Töpsi, the Polling Library was built, whose book collection grew to approximately 80,000 volumes by the time of secularization, making it one of the most extensive libraries in all of Bavaria.
The volume is present in 16th century blind-tooled pigskin over wooden boards, with roll stamped designs. The spine has been restored with blind stamped pigskin of the 17th century, to try and match the earlier binding.
One pigskin bound volume in folio, (4)+174 leaves
This volume is in very good shape, with some rubbing and wear to the binding. The text block is nightmarishly trimmed at the top, with the title header often impacted, heaviest to the first third. Thankfully the main text is not impacted. The first and last leaves and damp stained, with restoration work noted to the lower right corners of the first and last two leaves. There is some foxing and staining throughout, heavier to the margins, with some odd pencil doodling to the outer margins as well.