FONTE, Johannes da.

by Johannes da Fonte

£8,500 · Offered by Sokol Books

.Rare incunable edition of this popular Medieval anthology, first printed c. 1480. Auctoritates aristotelis (also known as Parvi Flores ) is a florilegium, that is a compendium of important extracts (auctoritates = authoritative passages) from other works in this case, classical and medieval philosophical treatises. It was composed between 1267 and 1325 by Johannes de Fonte (fl. 1300), lector of theology at the Franciscan convent of Montpellier. This compilation, which enjoyed great success in Germany, was used for education in universities and monasteries. It contains excerpts from Aristotle and sayings drawn from Plato, Porphyry, Seneca, Apuleius and Boethius. The first section focuses on logical works, the second is concerned with natural philosophy, metaphysics and ethics. . .A very interesting and rather unusual feature of this volume is that the rubricator, who coloured the title page, decorated all the initials and provided useful paragraph marks, also added brief annotations in red ink. These marginalia mostly consist in single words, such as nota or considera , pointing the attention to key passages underlined. This indicates the decorator was an interested reader with a good understanding of the text. At the end, the colophon is ornamented with a nice red-ink frame, below are the initials N.S: , probably those of the reader-rubricator. . .The manuscript inscription oro otto releuer no(n) reueler oro otto on the title page in black and red ink in two different hands,

• Binding: Hardcover

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