AA.VV. - Missale Romanum - 1742

GOLDEN REDS OF DISHES AND TETRAGRAMS: THE SOLEMN AESTHETIC OF THE SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY MISSAL
LARGE IN FOLIO
Solemn Venetian edition of the Missale Romanum, restored according to the decrees of the Council of Trent and promulgated under the authority of Popes Clement VIII and Urban VIII, here in the eighteenth-century printing by Nicolaus Pezzana. The volume bears witness to the full maturity of the post-Tridentine Roman rite, integrating normed liturgical text, Gregorian musical notation, and an iconographic apparatus of incisorial nature with a strong devotional impact. A specimen conceived for actual liturgical use, as evidenced by its format, binding structure, and evident layering of use.
MARKET VALUE
On the European antique market, Venetian Roman Missals from the XVIII century, complete and with an original binding, generally show valuations between 500 and 700 euros. The presence of full-page engravings, notation in red on tetragram, and an original binding with clasps positively affect the estimate, as does the completeness of the text and typographic clarity.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Contemporary full-leather binding, decorated in gold on the boards with a frame and small floral tools, back with raised bands and gold tools, surviving metal clasps. Pages with musical notation in red and black on a tetragram, liturgical text in Roman type. Typographic title page in red and black with a large engraved vignette; further full-page engravings of sacred subject matter. Binding worn with abrasions, flaking, and some defects at the margins; pages with browning, foxing, halos and signs of liturgical use. In antique books, with a multi-century history, a few imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. Pp. (2); 36 nn; 448; 96; 28; 2; 2; 2; 2; 2.

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Missale Romanum ex decreto sacrosancti Concilii Tridentini restitutum.
Venetiis, apud Nicolaum Pezzana, 1742.
Missae propriae recentiores Sanctorum.
Venetiis, ex Typographia Balleoniana, 1770.”
AA.VV.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
The volume testifies to a liturgical and editorial practice typical of the XVIII century: the progressive updating of the Missale Romanum text through the addition of official supplements, intended to receive new saints, new feasts, and recent pontifical dispositions without reprinting the entire main body of the Missal. The core of the volume is the Venetian Missale Romanum of 1742, a typical edition conforming to the decrees of the Council of Trent and the revisions of Clement VIII and Urban VIII, which represents the stable normative text of the Roman rite. At the end, the supplement Missae propriae recentiores Sanctorum, printed in Venice in 1770 by the Balleoniana Typographia, is bound, conceived as an official update of the Masses proper to saints canonized or reformed subsequently. This composite structure, far from being anomalous, responds to practical needs of continuous liturgical use and reflects the dynamic character of post-Tridentine ecclesiastical regulation. The volume, thus constituted, offers a concrete testimony to the life of the liturgical book: not a static object, but a tool in constant dialogue with the Roman authority and with daily celebratory practice.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
Nicolaus Pezzana was one of the leading Venetian publishers of liturgical texts in the XVIII century, active in producing large volumes for churches, chapters and religious communities. The print runs were targeted and subject to intense use, a circumstance that makes today complete copies with original bindings and intact iconographic apparatus less common.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
ICCU / OPAC SBN, editions of the Venetian Missale Romanum from the XVIII century.
A. Bugnini, The Reform of the Liturgy (1948-1975), Rome.
Historical catalogs of Venetian liturgical publishing.
Studies on the Missale Romanum post-Tridentine and on the tradition of Gregorian chant.