Pseudo Saint Augustine (3 results)

8vo. Latin manuscript in brown and red ink on vellum, 67 ff. Italian rotunda, 22 lines. With 36 floriated initials in red and blue, large illuminated initial in gold and colours laid in to 1st leaf of text, and illuminated border decoration. Early 20th century Italian full brown morocco, elaborately stamped and coloured. The "Soliloquies of St Augustine", an inner dialogue on the matter of the soul. While throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance the text was generally attributed to St Augustine of Hippo and it commonly preceded the "Confessions" in early medieval copies, the authorship is now doubted. - At the end of the volume, fol. 65v and ff. 66f. have additional texts added in several different hands, beginning with the Hymn to St Michael "Christiane vir fidelis, qui regnare vis in coelis" (Chevalier, Repertorium Hymnologicum III [1904], 24515) and the Hymn to St Christopher "martir Christoforo pro Salvatoris honore" (ibid., 29471), followed by other various prayers. - It may be possible to determine the original patron of the book: above the first rubric is an erasure that appears to begin "Iste liber" and include the name "Raimundi" (?); in the lower margin a shield of arms has been overpainted with gesso and gold, but traces of a blue ground survive, and from the back of the leaf a diagonal band (bend) can be discerned. - In the early 20th century the volume was acquired by and bound for the Italian engineer and industrialist Ernesto Pagnoni (1865-1928) of Vaprio d'Adda near Milan (see Fumagalli, Canonica d'Adda dalle origini ai giorni nostri, Zingonia, 1989). Pagnoni was active as a collector of manuscripts at least from 1908 onwards; his bookplate was designed by Sigmund Lipinsky in 1912. Many manuscripts owned by Pagnoni were bound by C. Glingler of Rome, who probably also fashioned the present, unsigned binding. Parts of his library were sold in Amsterdam by the renowned dealer R. W. P. de Vries on 2/3 December 1908. Other manuscripts once in Pagnoni's collection include the Lectura super libros sententiarum by Alfonso de Vargas y Toledo (now in Yale's, Beinecke Library, Marston MS 235), and an Ascetic miscellany, 1470-99 (now in the University of Pennsylvania, MS Codex 717). - The present manuscript was later acquired by the famous English bookseller W. A. Foyle (1885-1963), who founded Foyles bookshop in 1903, and bears his Beeleigh Abbey bookplate. Although Foyle had collected books from an early age, it was at Beeleigh Abbey in Essex, which he had purchased in 1943, that he was able to house the books properly, forming one of the largest English private libraries of the 20th century. - 1) Raimondi (?), 15th century Italian nobleman (erased patronage to head of first page and his overpainted arms in the lower margin). 2) Bound in the early 20th century for Ernesto Pagnoni (1865-1928) of Milan, with his large impressed stamp on inside upper cover and his initials in shields forming a frame to both inside covers. 3) Sotheby's, 2 July 1951 ("comprising the property of the Countess Le Gualès de Mézaubran; . Thomas Thompson, Esq. of Middlesbrough; . S. H. Cole; . A. W. Flay"), lot 14 (£28), to 4) William Alfred Westropp Foyle (1885-1963), British bookseller, with his burgundy morocco gilt bookplate to recto of first blank vellum leaf; a folded page of typewritten description of the manuscript in German tipped in. 5) By descent to his grandson William Richard Mervyn Christopher Foyle (1943-2022), aviator and bookseller. - Cf. Migne, PL 40, 863-898.

Sermones sancti Augustini ad heremitas is a 1517 Venetian printing attributed to Saint Augustine but more likely written in the twelfth to fourteenth centuries with the purpose of guiding Augustinian monastic communities. The work was issued on August 26, 1517 by Melchiorre Sessa and Pietro Ravani and reflects the ongoing authority of patristic writings in early sixteenth-century devotional life. Although modern bibliographic sources recognize the sermons as pseudo-Augustinian, the USTC continues to list Augustine as the author, underscoring the complicated transmission of medieval Latin theology. The text contains sermons directed to hermits, priests, and other clerics, including discourses on fasting, justice and mercy, obedience, humility, prayer, confession, love as the foundation of faith, the vanity of worldly attachments, and the way of life of Egyptian monks (De genere monachorum Aegyptiorum). Physical details include sextodecimo format (16mo), measuring 6 by 4.25 inches (15.2 x 10.8 cm), with 270 unnumbered pages and signatures A-R?, the final leaf blank. Notable features are a woodcut portrait of Augustine on leaf A2 and the printer's device on leaf R6. Condition is Good: the book is bound in soft covers with handwritten notes across both surfaces, the binding and text block remain tight and secure, the title page is lacking, but the remainder is complete, and the paper shows natural age while retaining legibility. Collation: unnumbered pages; signatures A-R? (R8 blank). Publisher: Venezia, per Melchiorre I Sessa & Pietro Ravani. Edition: 1517 printing. SKU: #29412. PHOTOS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST.

LeatherBound. Condition: New. BOOKS ARE EXEMPT FROM IMPORT DUTIES AND TARIFFS; NO EXTRA CHARGES APPLY. LeatherBound edition. Condition: New. Reprinted from 1487 edition. Leather Binding on Spine and Corners with Golden leaf printing on spine. NO changes have been made to the original text. This is NOT a retyped or an ocr'd reprint. Illustrations, Index, if any, are included in black and white. Each page is checked manually before printing. Pages: 278 As this print on demand book is reprinted from a very old book, there could be some missing or flawed pages, but we always try to make the book as complete as possible. Fold-outs, if any, are not part of the book. If the original book was published in multiple volumes then this reprint is of only one volume, not the whole set. Sewing binding for longer life, where the book block is actually sewn (smythe sewn/section sewn) with thread before binding which results in a more durable type of binding. Pages: 278 Language: Latin.