Basilius von Caesarea - Omnia, quae ad nos extant, opera - 1566

Basilius of Caesarea. All that remains to us are the works. In accordance with the arguments, divided into five volumes, interpreted by Jan Cornarius, a physician and physician from Zwickau, and again examined and corrected.

Basel, Ambrosius und Aurelius Froben, 1566. Rare

5 parts in 1 volume (with continuous pagination). 4 leaves, 1006 pages, 1 blank leaf, 14 leaves with a double woodcut printer’s marks. Folio, 30 x 20 cm.

Blind-stamped half-leather binding of the period (slightly stained, corners lightly worn, with hand-written title on the endpaper, without clasps; the board coverings come from a 15th-century Antiphonar-Paleographic manuscript).

VD16 B 646. Adams B 342.

Third Basel complete edition of the works by the physician and philologist Janus Cornarius (1500-1558) from Zwickau, whose edition of the writings of Saint Basil (330-379) appeared first in the same place in 1540. Almost all of Cornarius’s medical works and also his translations of Greek authors, highly valued by the learned world, appeared in Basel, where he was closely allied with Erasmus of Rotterdam.

Basilius of Caesarea, also called Basil the Great, was one of the most important Church Fathers, especially in the Eastern Church. As a member of the “Three Cappadocians” he significantly shaped the doctrine of the Trinity, promoted monasticism, and as Bishop of Caesarea strongly advocated for social concerns and care for the poor. He was unquestionably one of the most brilliant ecclesiastical orators of antiquity, combining “rhetorical skill with simplicity of thought and clarity of expression.” (Joh. Quasten, “Patrology,” Vol. 3, Utrecht 1963, p. 216).

Title with a small ink monogram. Initially and at the end slightly brown-spotted, otherwise clean. A handsome and well-preserved copy in a splendid binding, consisting of two leaves from a Latin antiphonary or breve [breviary] (early 15th century) with Gregorian chorales for the Divine Office. Front: Antiphon “Domine probasti me” for Psalm 138/139, sung especially at Vespers. Back: Various antiphons, including “Sacrificium Deo spiritus contribulatus” (Psalm 50) and “Laudate Dominum omnes gentes” (Psalm 116). The dense arrangement of several pieces on a single page is unusual.

Weight 2450 g.