[Incunable] Kempis / Gerson / Groote / Bonaventura - Opera - 1494

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24 ASCETIC AND MYSTICAL WORKS OF THE 14th CENTURY IN A SINGLE MONUMENTAL INCUNABULUM
STUNNING RUBRICATION COEVA — LEATHER ON WOOD PAGES — SOURCE POLLING–TÖPSL
Very important Nürnberg incunabulum printed by Caspar Hochfeder on November 29, 1494 and edited by Petrus Danhauser. Not a mere volume of Imitatio Christi, but a true LIBRARY OF MEDIEVAL SPIRITUALITY CONFINED TO ONE BOOK: no fewer than 24 works, treatises, and collections from Thomas à Kempis and other great authorial traditions, including Johannes Gerson, Geert Groote, and Pseudo-Bonaventure. At the center of the collection lies IMITATIO CHRISTI, one of the most read, translated, reprinted, and influential spiritual books in Western civilization. Surrounding this masterpiece is an exceptional corpus comprising biographies of the founders of the Devotio moderna, sermons, dialogues, spiritual letters, hymns, texts on monastic life, on poverty, on humility, on meditation, on compunction, on youth formation, and on care for the poor. Among the titles are De meditatione cordis, Vita magistri Gerardi Magni, Soliloquium animae, De disciplina claustralium, Sermones ad novitios, Dialogus noviciorum, Epistolae, Hortulus rosarum, Vallis liliorum, Consolatio pauperum, Manuale parvulorum, Doctrinale iuvenum and Hospitale pauperum. An impressive synthesis of the spiritual culture of the Devotio moderna on the eve of the Reformation. An exemplar of extraordinary charm, extensively rubricated in red, with a large, finely elaborated initial right at the beginning of the Imitatio Christi and numerous decorative initials at the opening of the individual works. The provenance from the Augustinian monastery of Polling is exceptional, documented by the ex libris “Franciscus Praepositus S. Salvatoris Pollingae,” attributable to the famous provost and bibliophile Franziskus Töpsl. The complete set is complemented by the important ancient pigskin binding stamped in dry on wooden boards. A combination of content, decoration, binding, and provenance hardly replicable on the market.

WHY TO BUY
24 OPERES AND TREATISES IN A SINGLE INCUNABULUM! A monumental late-medieval spirituality library gathered in one volume from 1494.
IMITATIO CHRISTI! The masterpiece of the collection, one of the most influential and universally circulated spiritual texts in Western history.
MORE AUTHORS AND TRADITIONS! Thomas à Kempis alongside Johannes Gerson, Geert Groote, and the pseudo-Bonaventuran tradition.
UNRIVALED EXEMPLAR IN THIS CONFIGURATION! Contemporary rubrication, binding on wooden boards, and prestigious Polling–Töpsl provenance united in the same volume.

MARKET VALUE
€7,500–10,500. The value of this exemplar does not derive solely from the incunabular date 1494 or the presence of Imitatio Christi, but from the extraordinary concentration of contents and materials: 24 different works and treatises, plus authorial traditions, Hochfeder second edition, extensive manual rubrication, large decorated initial at the opening of Imitatio Christi, ancient pigskin binding on boards, and prestigious provenance from the Polling monastery associated with Franziskus Töpsl. The edition is attested in important institutional collections, but finding an example on the market with this combination of textual corpus, decoration, binding, and provenance is practically impossible.

PHYSICAL / CONDITION
Sixteenth-century pigskin binding stamped in dry on wooden boards, decorated with a roller. Spine probably restored in the 17th century with pigskin stamped in dry, harmonized with the older boards. Signs of wear and normal use to the binding. Text in Gothic type, mostly set in two columns. Splendid and wide contemporary red rubrication. Large initial richly elaborated at the beginning of the Imitatio Christi; numerous rubricated initials, including large ones, at the opening of the individual works; running titles and other decorative elements completed with red flourishes. Irregular trimming at the upper margin, more pronounced on the first leaves. Holes and stains, scattered spots, some old marks and pencil doodles on the outer margins. Ex libris on the flyleaf: “Franciscus Praepositus S. Salvatoris Pollingae.” Condition of the exemplar: (4) + 174 leaves. In old books with long histories, a few imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description.

FULL TITLES & AUTHORS
Collection of 24 incunabula gathered in a single volume.
1. THOMAS À KEMPIS – Imitatio Christi. The masterpiece of the collection, devoted to the imitation of Christ’s life, humility, detachment from the world, and interior perfection.
2. JOHANNES GERSON – De meditatione cordis. Treatise on interior meditation and heart contemplation.
3. THOMAS À KEMPIS – Vita magistri Gerardi Magni. Life of Geert Groote, spiritual founder of the Devotio moderna.
4. THOMAS À KEMPIS – De humilitate Christi. Treatise on the humility of Christ as a model for Christian life.
5. THOMAS À KEMPIS – De discipulis domini Florentii. Testimony on the disciples of Florens Radewijns and the original environment of the Devotio moderna.
6. THOMAS À KEMPIS – Soliloquium animae. Great meditation in the form of an inner dialogue of the soul.
7. THOMAS À KEMPIS – De disciplina claustralium. Treatise on discipline, virtues, and monastic life.
8. Notabilia de conversatione Thomae a Kempis. Collection of testimonies on Thomas’s life and spiritual conduct.
9. PSEUDO-BONAVENTURA – Alphabetum boni monachi sive Alphabetum religiosorum. Repertoire of precepts for the perfection of religious life.
10. THOMAS À KEMPIS – Sermones ad novitios regulares. Sermons for the spiritual formation of novices.
11. THOMAS À KEMPIS – Sermones devoti, breves et utiles volentibus Deo servire. Collection of short sermons for those who wish to embrace religious life.
12. THOMAS À KEMPIS – Dialogus noviciorum. Spiritual and pedagogical dialogue for training young religious.
13. THOMAS À KEMPIS – Cantica spiritualia. Collection of spiritual compositions and songs.
14. THOMAS À KEMPIS – Epistolae. Corpus of spiritual letters on discipline, solitude, temptation, memory of the dead, and religious life.
15. THOMAS À KEMPIS – De paupertate, humilitate et patientia sive De tribus tabernaculis. Treatise on the three great virtues of the spiritual life.
16. GEERT GROOTE, TRADITIONAL ATTRIBUTION – De vera compunctione cordis. Treatise on true compunction and inner repentance.
17. THOMAS À KEMPIS – Hortulus rosarum. “Garden of the Roses,” meditations on ascetic life and spiritual perfection.
18. THOMAS À KEMPIS – Vallis liliorum. “Valley of the Lilies,” mystical work on purity, humility, and inner life.
19. THOMAS À KEMPIS – Consolatio pauperum et infirmorum. Consolation for the poor and the sick.
20. THOMAS À KEMPIS – Epitaphium monachorum. Meditation on death and the monastic condition.
21. VITA BONI MONACHI. Treatise on the ideal figure of the good monk, transmitted in the tradition of Thomas à Kempis and the Devotio moderna.
22. THOMAS À KEMPIS – Manuale parvulorum. Spiritual manual for the training of the youngest.
23. THOMAS À KEMPIS – Doctrinale iuvenum. Pedagogical and spiritual treatise for youths.
24. THOMAS À KEMPIS – Hospitale pauperum. Work devoted to poverty, suffering, and Christian consolation.
Curator: Petrus Danhauser.
Nuremberg: Caspar Hochfeder, November 29, 1494.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHORS
Thomas à Kempis, born Thomas Hemerken in Kempen around 1380 and died at Agnetenberg near Zwolle in 1471, was a regular canon of Saint Augustine and one of the central figures of the Devotio moderna. He entered at a very young age into the circle of the Brothers of the Common Life, a spiritual movement born around Geert Groote and based on personal, interiorized, disciplined religiosity oriented toward the concrete imitation of Christ. His name is inextricably linked to the Imitatio Christi, one of the great successes of world spiritual literature. Johannes Gerson (1363–1429), chancellor of the University of Paris and one of the most important theologians of his time, represents in the volume another fundamental current of late-medieval mysticism. Geert Groote (1340–1384) was the founder of the Devotio moderna and the inspirer of the Brothers of the Common Life, a movement from which Thomas’s spiritual formation directly derived. The collection also includes texts from the pseudo-bonaventurian tradition, evidence of the enormous influence of Francisan and mystical spirituality on European religiosity in the late Middle Ages. The volume thus does not merely represent the “works of Thomas à Kempis,” but an authentic anthology of the major currents of northern European spirituality of the fifteenth century.

PROVENANCE
PRESTIGIOUS PROVENANCE FROM THE POLLING MONASTERY. On the reverse pastedown is the ex libris “Franciscus Praepositus S. Salvatoris Pollingae,” linked to Franziskus Töpsl (1711–1796), provost of the Augustinian monastery at Polling and one of the most important figures of Bavarian Catholic Enlightenment. Theologian, scholar, and great bibliophile, Töpsl transformed Polling into an important intellectual center and greatly expanded the monastery’s library. This provenance gives the volume a second, autonomous collecting dimension: born in the 15th-century religious culture, the book later entered one of Bavaria’s most prestigious monastic collections of the 18th century.

RARITY
Exceptional configuration of this exemplar: 24 works and treatises gathered in the great corpus of 1494, Imitatio Christi, multiple authorial traditions, contemporary rubrication, large decorated initial, ancient pigskin binding on boards, Polling–Töpsl provenance. It is exceedingly rare to encounter an example on the antiquarian market that combines all these elements simultaneously. It is therefore its historical and material individuality that renders it almost unobtainable: not merely an incunabula edition, but a true historical object surviving through more than five centuries of religious culture and collecting.

HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE
This incunabulum constitutes a true encyclopedia of late medieval spirituality. The 24 works and collections allow us to follow nearly every aspect of the Devotio moderna: imitation of Christ, interior meditation, the founders’ lives, monastic discipline, novice formation, preaching, spiritual correspondence, poverty, humility, compunction, suffering, youth education, and care for the poor. At the center dominates the Imitaio Christi, a text destined to exert enormous influence on European spirituality for the following centuries. The presence in the same volume of works attributable to Thomas à Kempis, Johannes Gerson, Geert Groote, and the pseudo-bonaventurian tradition makes the collection far more than a simple edition of a single author’s works: it is the typographic synthesis of an entire spiritual civilization. The splendid rubrication also documents the still-hybrid nature of the incunabulum, produced by the press but completed by hand according to medieval codex customs. The large rubricated initial opening the Imitatio Christi symbolically represents the meeting point between manuscript and print. The provenance from Polling adds a second extraordinary chapter: from the Devotio moderna of the fifteenth century, the volume moved into the erudition of Bavarian Catholic Enlightenment. Few books allow such a concrete crossing of more than three centuries of European intellectual and religious history.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
ISTC it00352000.
GW M46672.
Goff T-352.
Hain-Copinger 9769.
Pell 11082.
CIBN T-222.
Polain(B) 3777.
BMC II, p. 475.
BSB-Ink T-195.
Thomas à Kempis, Opera.
Thomas à Kempis, Imitatio Christi.
Johannes Gerson, De meditatione cordis.
Geert Groote, De vera compunctione cordis.
Tradizione dello Pseudo-Bonaventura, Alphabetum boni monachi.