AA.VV. - Missale Romanum - 1764

MUSIC, ENGRAVINGS AND LARGE PAGES IN RED AND BLACK
Imposing Venetian edition of the Missale Romanum, published in 1764 by the famous Balleoniana Printing Office and belonging to the great liturgical tradition born from the reform of the Council of Trent. The text follows the Missal promulgated by Pope Pius V and subsequently revised under Clement VIII and Urban VIII, with the addition of the most recent saints’ masses. Splendid typographic appearance, entirely set in the tradition of great liturgical books: two-color printing, red and black, large titles, rubrics, woodcut initials, dense sections of Gregorian chant with square notation on tetragram and full-page copperplate plates. The volume also preserves numerous liturgical bookmarks in red and gold fabric, evidence of its actual ecclesiastical use.

MARKET VALUE
The great seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Venetian missals maintain strong antiquarian interest due to their typographic richness, red and black printing, musical notation, and engravings. Considering the state of the binding, interior quality, and illustrative apparatus, the valuation sits between €400–500.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Full-leather binding of contemporary era with lines and small gilded ornaments impressed on the spine. Binding shows signs of wear, abrasions, flaking and superficial leather losses, particularly evident on the spine; structure still solid. Pages 190–204 originate from a fascicle of another Canon Missarum, numbered pp. 165–171, whose first engraved leaf is pasted over p. 190 of the Missal. Interiors with some halos and signs of use; some leaves have paper reinforcements along the inner margin. Text printed in red and black. Numerous sections of Gregorian chant in square notation on tetragram. Four full-page copperplate plates present in total, two belonging to the inserted unrelated fascicle replacing missing leaves. Numerous woodcut initial capitals, some with hand-applied color. Beautiful ecclesiastical bookmarks in red and gold fabric preserved, bound into the volume. In ancient books, with a multi-century history, some imperfections may be present and are not always noted in the description. Pages (2); 30nn; 1-189; 165-172; 205-472; 108.

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Missale Romanum.
Venetiis, Ex Typographia Balleoniana, 1764.
AA.VV.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
The Missale Romanum is one of the fundamental books of Catholic liturgical history. Its modern form derives from the reform after the Council of Trent: in 1570 Pope Pius V promulgated with the bull Quo primum a uniform edition of the Missal destined to become the reference for Roman liturgy for centuries. Subsequent interventions, especially under Clement VIII and Urban VIII, introduced textual and rubric revisions, while new feasts and saints’ masses continued to expand the liturgical corpus.
The 1764 Balleoniana edition testifies to this long stratification. The preliminary leaves reproduce papal documents related to the promulgation and revision of the Missal; followed by the liturgical calendar, the Rubricae generales Missalis, the Proprium Missarum de Tempore, the Canon Missae, the sanctorale and other forms necessary for celebration.
Particularly evocative are the numerous musical sections. The square notation on tetragram accompanies prefaces, responses, sacerdotal formulas, and other sung parts of the celebration, making the volume simultaneously a liturgical book and a source for the history of ecclesiastical musical practice. The systematic use of red for rubrics, titles and liturgical instructions derives from the book’s practical function: color allows the celebrant to distinguish ritual instructions from the text to be spoken or sung.
The full-page devotional engravings, together with the large initials and the complex typographic layout, also transform the Missal into an editorial artifact of strong visual presence, designed for use at the altar.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
The Missale Romanum does not have an individual author: it is the result of a long consolidation of Roman liturgy and the regulatory activity of the Catholic Church. The form represented here mainly derives from the reform promoted by Pope Pius V (1504–1572), pope from 1566 and a key figure in applying the Tridentine decrees. The Missal promulgated by him in 1570 aimed to guarantee greater uniformity in the celebration of the Mass according to the Roman rite. Clement VIII (1536–1605) promoted a new official edition in 1604, while Urban VIII (1568–1644) further intervened in the liturgical tradition in the 17th century. The eighteenth-century edition thus preserves in its title the memory of the successive pontifical authorities who had defined and updated its structure.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
The Balleoniana Typographic was one of the most important Venetian workshops specialized in producing and disseminating religious and liturgical books. During the 18th century the Balleons printed numerous editions intended not only for the Venetian and Italian market, but for wider Catholic Europe.
Missals were typographically demanding: they required large quantities of type, multi-column layouts, two-color printing achieved by successive impressions, musical type, rubrics, calendrical tables, and illustration apparatus. The 1764 edition perfectly documents this specialization of Venetian liturgical publishing.
Especially interesting in this copy is the Venetian printing license dated November 7, 1763, signed by the General Inquisitor Filippo Rosa Lanzi, expressly authorizing the publication of the Missale Romanum by the Balleoniana Typographic. The presence of this documentation, together with the liturgical and musical apparatus, allows reading the volume not only as a religious text but as a complex product of eighteenth-century Venetian typographic culture.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Missale Romanum ex decreto Sacrosancti Concilii Tridentini restitutum, Venetiis, Ex Typographia Balleoniana, 1764.
Pius V, Quo primum tempore, 1570.
Clemente VIII, edition revised of the Missale Romanum, 1604.
Urban VIII, tradition of the seventeenth-century revisions of the Roman Missal.
Studies on the history of the Missale Romanum and on the liturgical reform after the Council of Trent.
Repertories on the Venetian typography of the Balleoni and on the production of liturgical books in the eighteenth century.