S. Anselmi - Orationes S. Anselmi - 1726

Orations of St. Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury

Order of Saint Benedict, Doctor Theodidacti & the Wisest: by which minds are enlightened, and hearts stirred to seek God and to love Him. Once excavated in the Kingdoms of Gaul from various and ancient manuscripts, with care and study of the Monastic Congregation of Saint Maur; first in Paris, then at Rome by the Eminent Cardinal Joseph de Aguirre, and now at last faithful to the Roman exemplar.
Verona, from the Typographia Joannes Albertus Tumermani in Vico Artium, [1726]. With the permission of the superiors.

In-12 (about 15.5 × 8.2 cm), pp. XII, 312. Contemporary ivory parchment binding with floral decoration (vellum), back with raised bands and manuscript title in ink “S. Anselmi Orationes” and a small heraldic device; slight chipping to the headcaps and spine (see photo). Interiors in good condition, paper still fresh, with only mild signs of use and occasional faint marginal spots. Title page with woodcut device; text in Latin, clear type typical of Verona Tumermani’s typography.

Contents
A complete collection of the Orationes (prayers and meditations) of Saint Anselm of Aosta (1033/34–1109), Archbishop of Canterbury, Benedictine monk, Doctor of the Church and a central figure of medieval theology and spirituality, father of Scholasticism and author of the famous ontological argument (Proslogion).
The volume includes prayers addressed to God, to Christ, to the Trinity, to the Cross, to the Virgin Mary (including prayers “in partu”), to the saints (Tecla, Paul the Apostle, etc.), prayers for relatives and friends, for priests, for contrition, for salvation, and numerous other ascetic and penitential meditations. The final index lists over sixty prayers. The edition reproduces, with slight adjustments, the critical text prepared by the Maurini (Congregation of Saint Maur) and later published in Rome by Cardinal José Sáenz de Aguirre (1630–1699), here faithfully reprinted from the Roman exemplar.

Importance and rarity
Saint Anselm is one of the most influential Christian thinkers of the Middle Ages; his Orationes sive Meditationes constitute a masterpiece of Latin spiritual literature, a model of personal prayer and theology that profoundly influenced monastic devotion and later theology.
This Verona edition of 1726 is a careful reprint in a portable 12° format of Aguirre’s prestigious Roman recension, printed by Giovanni Alberto Tumermani, a Verona-based printer active in the first half of the eighteenth century.

Copies of this edition are quite scarce on the antiquarian market; major European libraries hold only a few copies (including the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze). This is a volume sought after by collectors of medieval theology, Benedictine spirituality, and small-format Italian incunabula and eighteenth-century books.

Conditions: binding with the defects noted at the headcaps and corner; interiors overall good and legible.

An excellent opportunity for collectors of ancient theological works and Verona editions of the eighteenth century.