?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 4,000 - $ 6,000
THOMAS BECKETT, Saint, Archbishop of Canterbury. Vita et processus Sancti Thomae Cantuariensis. [98] leaves. Gothic type. bound with: BERTRANDI, PETRUS. Libellus de iurisdictione ecclesiastica. [18] leaves. Gothic type. Together, 2 volumes in one. Folio, 230x159 mm, 18th-century sheep-backed marbled boards, spine and cover edges worn, spine ends chipped; first and last pages soiled, dampstaining along bottom edges in first half of volume, bookseller's catalogue description and tracing of Wolf device (see below) tipped to front free endpaper; red edges. [Paris: Johann Philippi, 27 March 1495; 2 April 1495]
first editions of the first printed life of Becket (1118?-1170), composed circa 1200 from 4 contemporary accounts by close associates, and a tract on the essential rights of the church by a French cardinal, theologian, and canonist (1280-1348/49); the 2 works are commonly bound together. The title-page of the first work shows the impression of the printer's device of Georg Wolf, Philippi's former partner, which was used to support the sheet during the press run. Hain-Copinger 15510, (+Add) 3002; BMC VIII, 148, 148; Goff T159, B516. Provenance: Petrus Gallus, early inscription; Nantes Oratorians, inscription; Sir John P. Boileau, Bart., signature; Otto L. Shaw, with a TLS to him from John Hayward regarding the note on this copy submitted by Shaw for publication in The Book Collector (Fall 1963, page 203); and Martin Schøyen (sale at Sotheby's New York, 12 December 1991, lot 45).
