Title: Decretales Domini Pape Gregorii Noni Acurata, diligentia novissime quam pluribus cum exemplaribus emendate: aptissimisque imaginibus exculte: cum multiplicibus repertoriis antiquis: & de novo factis ad materias quascunque inveniendas amplissimis. Additisomnibus necessariis addi possibilibus: que de se legentibus patebunt, 1514
Author: Pope Gregory IX
Publisher: Venezia, in edibus Lucantonio I Giunta
Condition: Good
An early 16th century edition of Pope Gregory IX’s Decretals, also known as the Liber extra, a source of medieval Catholic canon law. In 1230, Gregory ordered that a new canonical collection be designed to replace the Decretum Gratinani, which helped to cement his power over the Church. It remained the cornerstone of the Corpus Juris Canonici, remaining in use until 1917. This edition has been printed by Lucantonio Giunta the First.
The text is printed throughout in red and black, in a gothic font. There are two full-page woodcuts which display the Arbor Consanguinitatis (a tree-like table designed to show a family’s genealogy), and the Arbor Affinitatis (a matrix of a person's in-laws and step-children). This edition has been profusely illustrated, with roughly 179 in-text woodcuts (most quarter page, with a few half page examples), displaying varying scenes from religious history, officials at work, court scenes, and criminal being punished. There are also numerous woodcut initials.
Giunta was a member of the famed Florentine Giunti family of printers, which he first established in Venice, printing under his own name in 1489. Roughly 30 members of the family became printers or booksellers, with a press established in Florence from 1497, which became one of the leading printing firms. By 1550, the Giunti family had bookstores or warehouses in cities across several countries, and numerous agencies across the Italian Peninsula. Not surprisingly, the Venetian press of the Giunti family was the most active publisher and exporter of liturgical texts in Catholic Europe.
The title page and three other preliminary leaves (which includes the full-page woodcut of Jesus before Pontius Pilate), and the first numbered leaf, are lacking.
One finely bound vellum volume in quarto, CCCCCXXXV of CCCCCXXXVI+(55) leaves
This volume is in good shape, with some rubbing and vellum loss, and peeling to the lower half of the spine. Leaves II and CXXXIIII have undergone heavy restoration, with text loss and part of a woodcut. There is a small repair to the right-side margin of leaf CLXIX. There is some foxing throughout and staining to the first and last few leaves.