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The woodcut title page, printed in Gothic black letter within a full-page architectural border of classical columns, a coffered arch, putti, grotesque masks and dolphins. The imprint below reads Parisiis, apud Franciscum Regnault, 1535, and an early manuscript ownership inscription in brown ink runs across the foot of the leaf.
  • The woodcut title page, printed in Gothic black letter within a full-page architectural border of classical columns, a coffered arch, putti, grotesque masks and dolphins. The imprint below reads Parisiis, apud Franciscum Regnault, 1535, and an early manuscript ownership inscription in brown ink runs across the foot of the leaf.
  • The front board of the sixteenth-century blind-tooled brown calf binding, showing the triple-fillet panel design, a small central floral tool, and the raised bands along the spine edge. Photographed beside a ruler for scale, the book measuring about 170 mm tall.
  • The spine of the calf binding, unlettered, with five raised bands. The leather is chipped and lacking at the head and tail, and shows cracking and surface loss along the joints.
  • The Epistola ad lectores leaf, printed in two columns of Gothic black letter with a large decorative woodcut initial. At the foot of the page are two early manuscript ownership inscriptions in brown ink, each struck through with a single stroke of the pen.
  • The final leaf of text, ending with the word Finis, with a decorative woodcut initial in the lower column. At the foot of the leaf is the later pencilled note reading R. M. Lucas, Paris, Dec. 1934.
  • A board of the binding photographed flat, showing the blind-tooled triple-fillet panel, heavy staining and darkening across the calf, and surface loss and wear at the corners and along the edges.
  • A text opening from the acts of the Council of Constance, headed Concilii Constantiensis, printed in two columns of Gothic black letter with a decorative woodcut initial, printed foliation and marginal section letters. The paper is clean and the impression dark.
  • A text opening from the decrees of the Council of Basel, headed Concilii Basiliensis, printed in two columns of Gothic black letter with printed foliation and marginal section letters.
  • The woodcut title page, printed in Gothic black letter within a full-page architectural border of classical columns, a coffered arch, putti, grotesque masks and dolphins. The imprint below reads Parisiis, apud Franciscum Regnault, 1535, and an early manuscript ownership inscription in brown ink runs across the foot of the leaf.
  • The front board of the sixteenth-century blind-tooled brown calf binding, showing the triple-fillet panel design, a small central floral tool, and the raised bands along the spine edge. Photographed beside a ruler for scale, the book measuring about 170 mm tall.
  • The spine of the calf binding, unlettered, with five raised bands. The leather is chipped and lacking at the head and tail, and shows cracking and surface loss along the joints.
  • The Epistola ad lectores leaf, printed in two columns of Gothic black letter with a large decorative woodcut initial. At the foot of the page are two early manuscript ownership inscriptions in brown ink, each struck through with a single stroke of the pen.
  • The final leaf of text, ending with the word Finis, with a decorative woodcut initial in the lower column. At the foot of the leaf is the later pencilled note reading R. M. Lucas, Paris, Dec. 1934.
  • A board of the binding photographed flat, showing the blind-tooled triple-fillet panel, heavy staining and darkening across the calf, and surface loss and wear at the corners and along the edges.
  • A text opening from the acts of the Council of Constance, headed Concilii Constantiensis, printed in two columns of Gothic black letter with a decorative woodcut initial, printed foliation and marginal section letters. The paper is clean and the impression dark.
  • A text opening from the decrees of the Council of Basel, headed Concilii Basiliensis, printed in two columns of Gothic black letter with printed foliation and marginal section letters.
Merlin, Tomus secundus Conciliorum generalium — Paris: François Regnault, 1535

Merlin, Tomus secundus Conciliorum generalium — Paris: François Regnault, 1535

£15,000.00 GBP
Enquire about this book

Sold for collection in person. Questions of any level of detail are welcome, and further photographs of any leaf, at any magnification, will be sent on request. Offers are considered.

Specifications

Author
Jacques Merlin (comp.)
Title
Tomus secundus Conciliorum generalium
Imprint
Paris: François Regnault, 1535
Language
Latin
Edition
Third edition of the work; the first printing by François Regnault ("first edition thus")
Format & collation
Small 8vo, approximately 110 × 170 mm
[8], ccxxii leaves (230 leaves; 460 pages)
Complete as a volume; no leaves lacking
Typography
Gothic (black letter) type, double columns, with printed foliation and marginal section letters
Binding
Blind-tooled brown calf over boards of sixteenth-century type, with a triple-fillet panel design to both covers and a small central floral tool, five raised bands, spine unlettered
Condition
Binding sound and holding firm, but with pronounced wear appropriate to its age. Text block remarkably clean and crisp. Please read the condition note in full and study the photographs.
Provenance
Early manuscript ownership inscriptions in brown ink to the lower title page and to the foot of the Epistola ad lectores leaf. Later pencilled note to the final leaf: "R. M. Lucas, Paris, Dec. 1934."

What do these terms mean?

MERLIN, Jacques (comp.). Tomus secundus Conciliorum generalium. Paris: apud Franciscum Regnault, 1535.

An original sixteenth-century Paris imprint, in blind-tooled calf, with early manuscript ownership inscriptions.

This is the second volume of Jacques Merlin's collection of the acts and decrees of the general councils of the Church - the first printed corpus of conciliar texts ever assembled, and one of the foundational works of Renaissance ecclesiastical scholarship. Merlin, doctor of theology of the College de Navarre, first published the collection in Paris in 1524; it was reprinted at Cologne in 1530 and again here in Paris by Francois Regnault in 1535. Printed throughout in Gothic black letter in double columns, with a full-page architectural woodcut title border and decorative woodcut initials.

The volume opens with a full subject index and Merlin's prefatory Epistola ad lectores, in which he addresses his Christian readers directly on the labour of recovering these texts from dust and oblivion, and on his insistence upon authentic, uncorrupted sources.

EDITION

Third edition of the work; the first printing by Francois Regnault ("first edition thus"). First published Paris, 1524, for Galliot du Pre; reprinted Cologne, Peter Quentel, 1530.

SIGNIFICANCE

Merlin's collection is the ancestor of every later corpus of conciliar texts; the tradition begins with him and continued for centuries afterwards. Almost all recorded copies of the 1524 first edition are held in institutional libraries, and Merlin's early printings are seldom seen in private hands.

PLEASE NOTE - VOLUME TWO ONLY

This is volume two of a two-volume work. Volume one is NOT present and is not included in this sale. The volume offered is complete in itself, with no leaves lacking, running from the preliminary index through to the final leaf ending "Finis."

COLLATION

Small 8vo, approximately 110 x 170 mm. [8], ccxxii leaves (230 leaves; 460 pages). Gothic (black letter) type, double columns, with printed foliation and marginal section letters. Full-page architectural woodcut title border with putti, grotesque masks, dolphins, classical columns and a coffered arch - unsigned, as is usual for Paris border blocks of this period. Decorative woodcut initials throughout, several of considerable charm.

CONTENTS

  • Practica quinte synodi Constantinopolitane - the Fifth Ecumenical Council (Second Council of Constantinople, 553), fol. i
  • Sexta synodus Constantinopolitana - the Sixth Ecumenical Council (Third Council of Constantinople, 680-681), fol. xlii
  • Acta concilii Constantiensis - the acts of the Council of Constance (1414-18), which ended the Great Western Schism, fol. cii
  • Decreta concilii Basiliensis - the decrees of the Council of Basel (1431-49), the high-water mark of the conciliar movement, fol. cliii
  • Approbatio actorum concilii Basiliensis per Nicolaum papam quintum - fol. ccxvi
  • Confirmatio constitutionum Frederici et Karoline - confirmation of the constitutions of Frederick III and the Carolina, fol. ccxviii

BINDING

Blind-tooled brown calf over boards of sixteenth-century type, with a triple-fillet panel design to both covers and a small central floral tool, five raised bands, spine unlettered.

CONDITION - PLEASE READ, AND STUDY THE PHOTOGRAPHS

The photographs form part of this description and show the book exactly as it is. I would rather describe a book too severely than too kindly.

Binding: sound and holding firm, but with pronounced wear appropriate to its age. Leather chipped and lacking at the spine ends and at the corners; cracking, surface loss and rubbing along the joints; scuffing, staining and darkening to both boards. Endbands partly exposed at head and tail.

Text block: remarkably clean and crisp for its age, with a strong, dark impression throughout - the type is as sharp on the final leaves as on the first. Light worming to the blank lower corners of approximately the first twenty leaves, nowhere touching or affecting the text. Preliminary leaves lightly stained, creased and handled. Title page and text otherwise in good order.

Completeness: complete as a volume; no leaves lacking.

PROVENANCE

Early manuscript ownership inscriptions in brown ink to the lower title page and to the foot of the Epistola ad lectores leaf, the latter written twice, each struck through with a single stroke of the pen. The hand appears to be sixteenth-century French. The name has not been deciphered, and is offered as it stands for the next owner to pursue - a genuine piece of unexplored research attached to a book of this date.

Later pencilled note to the final leaf: "R. M. Lucas, Paris, Dec. 1934."

High-resolution photographs of every inscription are included above, and further images at any magnification will be sent on request.

OF INTEREST TO

Collectors and institutions concerned with church history, conciliarism and the conciliar movement, canon law, patristics, the ecumenical councils, the Councils of Constance and Basel, sixteenth-century Paris printing, Francois Regnault, French Renaissance books, period calf bindings, and early black letter typography.

ENQUIRIES AND COLLECTION

Serious enquiries are warmly welcomed, and I am glad to answer questions of any level of detail, supply additional photographs of specific leaves, or discuss the book by correspondence before purchase. Offers are considered.

This book is offered for collection in person only. For an item of this age and value, I believe the right way to sell it is face to face: the buyer can examine the binding, the paper and the inscriptions at leisure, and satisfy themselves fully before completing the handover. Collection can be arranged at a mutually convenient time and place once payment has cleared.

I am happy to allow as much time as you need to inspect the book at the handover.