SCOTUS, John Duns.

by John Duns Scotus

£5,750 · Offered by Sokol Books

.An attractive copy of the first edition of Scotus s commentary on Peter Lombard s Sentences , based .on his Parisian lectures. The design of the fine binding is common to several printing centres in Italy, .with the knotwork rolls in the first and second border widely diffused. However, the charming third .roll with tiny dots and the central panel decorated with repeated small stamps are characteristic of .bindings produced in Naples (de Marinis no. 114-15, 217 and 224, Legatura Artistica in Italia , vol .I). This is an elegant example of Renaissance craftsmanship and examples in this condition are rare. .This first edition of Scotus complete Parisian lectures was realised thanks to the initiative of the great .Scottish philosopher and historian John Major (or Mair, 1467 1550). In the introduction, Mair .explains that, astonished that the Reportata Parisiensia had not yet been printed, he looked in the .libraries of Paris and found two manuscripts that, although corrupt in places, were worth .publication. Mair entrusted two young graduates - Jacques Rufin and Pierre Du Sault with the task .of preparing the edition and supervised their work. The first three books were completed in 1517, the .fourth in 1518. .John Duns Scotus (c. 1265-1308) is one of the most prominent Scholastic philosophers and .theologians of the High Middle ages. He was known as Doctor Subtilis (the subtle doctor), for his .complex and nuanced philosophical arguments. A pioneer of the classical defence of

• Binding: Hardcover

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