4. THE 1459 DURANDUS

DURANDUS, Guillelmus (1237-1296). Rationale divinorum officiorum. Printed on vellum. [Mainz]: Johann Fust and Peter Schoeffer, 6 October 1459.

This is Bridwell Library’s earliest printed book, preceded only by the 31 leaves from the Gutenberg Bible, the 1459 Psalter leaf, and perhaps the undated leaf from the 36-Line Bible in its collection of fifteenth-century printing. It was perhaps the fourth book of significant length printed in Europe, the third to bear a date of publication, and the first printed edition of a post-biblical author’s work. The Durandus is also the first dated book that was printed not in “Missal” type but in a smaller type designed for solitary reading and scholarship. The “Durandus” type is still Gothic, yet it has been described as almost humanistic, as well. Fust and Schoeffer again used their Psalter initials to decorate this edition, printed entirely on vellum. However, slight registration shifts show that the color printing was done after the black ink printing.

Durandus, Bishop of Mende in southern France, was an influential canonist and liturgist. His Rationale divinorum officiorum is a treatise on the significance of the sacramental ceremonies, describing the church edifice, its officers, their vestments, the Mass, the other divine offices, the dominical feast days, saints’ days, and the liturgical calendar. The text was printed in 44 fifteenth-century editions.

An analysis of the gold-tooling on the red morocco binding indicates that the Bridwell Library copy was bound by Christopher Chapman, who worked for the 2nd Earl of Oxford, Edward Harley (1689-1741). Although the Earl’s accounts show that he paid Jane Steel for binding a Durandus (edition unknown) in ornately gilt red morocco in 1717, the Earl’s only recorded copy of the 1459 Durandus is preserved at Vienna in an 18th-century binding not by Jane Steel. The Bridwell copy would appear to be in a binding Chapman made for another patron. 

Enlargement            View of binding            More about the binding

Introduction

5. Biblia latina 1462 6. Cicero 1465