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HRABANUS (or RABANUS) MAURUS. De laudibus sancte crucis opus. [7] (of [10]), 2-59, [1], 14, [1] (of [2]) leaves; lacks 2A5-6, 2B1, a1, and blank C4 at end. Printed in red and black. Folio, 284x200 mm, late 18th-/early 19th-century 1/2 sheep, rebacked retaining most of heavily worn original backstrip, cover corners worn through; marginal dampstaining and single small wormhole in blank lower margins throughout, title toned and soiled, scattered pencil marginalia. Old stamp of the Hannover Royal Library (duplicate) on title verso and last page. (Pforzheim: Thomas Anshelm, 1503)
first edition of a cycle of complex pattern poems on the Holy Cross originally composed in the early 9th century, consisting of texts with multiple readings integrated with images, "a tour de force of art and artificiality" (DLB). The author was a Benedictine monk (780-856) who later became Abbot of Fulda and Archbishop of Mainz. While different forms of pattern poetry can be traced to antiquity, this was the first work of its kind to appear in print. The leaves missing from this copy include 2 woodcuts of the author before the Pope, and poems incorporating full-length figures of the dedicatee, King Louis the Pious, and the crucified Christ. Fairfax Murray German 350; Philip Mills Arnold Semeiology Collection 57.
