OROSIUS, Paulus; Aeneas Vulpes and Laurentius Brixiensis (eds). Historiae adversos paganos.
[Vicenza], Leonardus Achates de Basilea, [c.1482]
£ SOLD
Folio (20.2 x 19.6 cm); 104 ff of 106 (lacking initial blank and h6); a-i K l m8 n10; 36 lines (variable); Roman type, in Latin. Large first initial in red and blue, initials and paragraph-marks throughout in red or blue. A few instances of early ink marginalia throughout. h4 and h5 transposed with k4 and k5, damp-stain to inner gutter throughout; some leaves washed and restored; some slight evidence of mould in inner gutter margin. Marbled endpapers and edges; wide margins. 19th century blind-stamped calf; rebacked with erroneous place (Venice) and date (c. 1490); gilt lettering on spine. Notwithstanding the faults, an excellent copy. Rare.
Paulus Orosius (c. 375/385 – c. 420 AD) was a Roman priest, historian and theologian, and a student of St Augustine of Hippo. This book is his most important and well-known work, and it is considered as one of the books which had the greatest impact on historiography during the period between antiquity and the Middle Ages. The book attempted to counter the argument that the world had declined since the advent of Christianity. This is the fourth edition of Orosius’ universal history and it was printed at the first press in Vicenza in c. 1482.
BMC VII, 1032; Goff O-99; GW M28419; HC *12100; Bod-inc O-028; BSB-Ink O-83.