1509 POST-INCUNABULA ILLUSTRATED ANTIQUE QUADRUVIUM ECCLESIE QUATTUOR BY J.HUG

1509 POST-INCUNABULA ILLUSTRATED ANTIQUE QUADRUVIUM ECCLESIE QUATTUOR BY J.HUG

Hug von Schlettstadt, Johannes.

Quadruvium Ecclesie Quattuor prelatorum officium Quibus omnis anima subjicitur.

With title woodcut, 9 full page woodcuts and woodcut printer's mark at colophon

Paris, Guillaume Eustace; August 1, 1509

84 lvs.

Modern leather binding in contemporary style and new endpapers.

Spine with raised bands

Rich blind embossing on spine and covers and gold-stamped title page at the spine

- BP16, 101350. ADB 13, 328. Brunet III, 366. Graesse VII, 385. -

Very rare second edition with partial reuse of the woodcuts from the first edition of 1504 by Gruninger in Strasbourg.

"Born around 1470 in Schlettstadt in Alsace, (Hug) (...) received his scholarly education at Dringenberg's school, later became vicar at the parish church of St. Stephen in Strasbourg and then chaplain to Emperor Maximilian I, who valued his insight and oratorical ability very highly.

In this latter position he represented the Emperor's cause and wrote his canon law treatise, distinguished by his talent, natural frankness and erudition:

'Quadruvium Ecclesiae: the ecclesiastical four-horse team or the holy church and carriage driver of the Roman Empire' (...). The book, which was published in German and Latin at the same time (...) discusses the abuses prevailing at the Roman court with such frankness and biting satire that few writings of that time dealing with this subject can match it." (ADB 13)

First 34 pp. with small wormhole in the margin.

Very few period marginalia and underlining.

Good copy in decorative binding.

Size 5.5 by 8"

Text in Latin

Johannes Hug (also Johannes Hugo , Johannes Hugonis ; ( around 1455 in Schlettstadt - after 1505 probably in Strasbourg ) was a canonically educated clergyman and author who worked in Strasbourg

Johannes (Hans) Grüninger (1455–1533) was a German printer whose career spanned from 1482 to 1533 and produced up to 500 publications.

Gruninger was one of the single most prolific printers of Strasbourg, printing up to 80 books a year. While a great deal of his publications were Catholic, he managed to print a great variety of works ranging from humanist to scientific texts.[2] His work was fairly equally representative of both Latin and the vernacular; about 39% of his works were printed in Latin and the remaining 61% in German.

Gruninger was born as Johannes Reinhart in 1455 in the town of Markgröningen, Wurttemberg (from which he took his name "Gruninger"). He learned about the printing trade in Basel before he moved to Strasbourg which was experiencing a boom in the printing industry.

Between 1508 and 1528 about 70 printers had established themselves in Strasbourg.

Gruninger had a head start on this competition and in 1481 he moved to Strasbourg. A year later bought his print shop and in August 1483, he printed his first book, Petrus Comestor's Historia Scholastica.

Some of his notable publications include a German-language Bible, and illustrated editions of Horace's Opera, and Virgil's Aeneid.

Gruninger died in 1532 and was succeeded by his sons Wolfgang and Bartholomew (primarily Bartholomew, who was also a printer albeit on a smaller scale than his father).

As was common, his sons promptly sold the business to Peter Schoffer the younger in 1533 after being unable to maintain past production rates.

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