BOETHIUS.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

De consolatione philosophiae. Second Koberger edition of this foundational text of western philosophy, including pseudo-Thomas Aquinas's commentary. A charming copy, rubricated throughout and annotated in Latin in a contemporary Germanic hand.De consolatione philosophiae was printed by Koberger in 1473 in a bilingual Latin-German edition. This edition omits the German translation, but is otherwise identical, with Boethius's text followed by a long commentary misattributed to Thomas Aquinas. This was the most frequently printed commentary during the incunable period, possibly written by the Welsh dominican friar Thomas Waleys (or Wallensis, c. 1255) or the London dominican and cardinal Thomas the Jorz (Joyce, d. c.1311).Koberger's editions of Boethius were finely printed as large-sized folios on good quality paper, and primarily intended for monastic libraries. In this copy, De consolatione was carefully studied by a contemporary reader, who added frequent interlinear notes with Latin synonyms, and longer exegetic comments in the margins. The illumination on the first initial appears to be later, covering an earlier, possibly gilt design; the coat of arms within it is of difficult interpretation due to lack of detail.Provenance: George Dunn (1865-1912), of Woolley Hall near Maidenhead, bibliophile, with bookplate – Rowland Thomas Baring, 2nd Earl of Cromer (1877-1953), with bookplate, inscribed in the upper margin with the signature of John Burns (1858-1943), English trade uni

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