Quaestiones de duodecim quodlibet

Folio. [*⁸ ; a-c¹⁰d⁸e-h¹⁰i⁸k-n¹⁰o⁸p-z¹⁰.] 232 ll, the last blank. 10^a : 34 lines and head-line.

Nineteenth-century blind-stamped calf over bevelled wooden boards in close imitation of a period German binding, spine lettered in gilt, binding slightly rubbed.

290 x 210 mm.

Thomas d’Aquin (1225-1274). Quaestiones de duodecim quodlibet.

Ulm, Johann Zainer, 1475.

2^a. Incipiunt tituli questionum de duodecim quodlibet. // Sancti thome de aquino, ordinis predicato bm ordine // alphabeti assignati. Et primo de angelis. Questiones de quodlibet sancti Thome de // aqno ordinis fratrum pdicato incipiunt felicit. 232. Colophon : Immensa dei clementia finitur Quodlibet liber sancti Thome de Aquino ordinis fratrum pdicato in eiusde gloriam compositus. Impssus Ulm per Iohanne czainer de Rutlingen. Anno dňi. Millesimoquadringentesimo septuagesimoquinto.

A large crisp copy. This is the fourth edition.

Johann Zainer was the first printer to set up shop in Ulm in 1472, with the encouragement and financial support of Heinrich Steinhöwel, Johann was the brother of Günther Zainer, with whom he had worked in Augsbourg. It is likely that they had both worked for Mentelin in Strasburg.

A very fine print from Johann Zainer’s first printing press in Ulm, featuring his first typeface and the attractive wooden initials of his so-called Romanesque alphabet.

First published in 1470, it contains a collection of treatises on numerous issues of religious and secular life. This edition was likely produced at the instigation of the Dominicans of Ulm.

The disputatio de quolibet is the most solemn form of disputation in the medieval university. The serving regent masters announce—rarely every year, often every two or three years—that they will answer any question posed to them by the audience gathered for this purpose. An opponent presents his objections to the master’s answer, and a defending bachelor supports the master’s thesis. The masters demonstrate their knowledge, skill, and quick wit in the face of insidious or controversial questions. A second session serves to organize the debate and draft the report, which allows us to gauge the resonance of current events within the academic setting: quodlibet questions on parish authority during the dispute between mendicant and secular orders, or on the trials of the Knights Templar in the 14th century. The genre is exemplified by the greatest names in Scholasticism: Henry of Ghent, Thomas Aquinas, Jacques of Viterbo, Gilles of Rome, William of Ockham, Alexander of Hales, and Durand of Saint-Pourçain. (Jean-Pierre Bordier).

Thomas d'Aquin had a keen awareness of his calling as a teacher, dedicated to the service of truth. He recognized the intellectual revolution that had been unfolding in the West since the beginning of the century, under the influence of pagan philosophy, and, in particular, Aristotelianism. He set himself the task of developing an authentic philosophy, suited to the needs of the Christian world of his time, and then of rethinking, with the help of this philosophy, all theological problems. Thomas Aquinas’s philosophy is truly a new philosophy, the fruit of an original synthesis of Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism: it is the first philosophy worthy of the name produced by Christian civilization.

If one considers the role played by the University of Paris in the 13th century and throughout the rest of the Middle Ages, one cannot overemphasize the influence exerted there by the man who would one day become, in the eyes of the Church, the Doctor communis. He had many friends and admirers in Paris, beginning with the King of France, Saint Louis.

Goff T185 ; HC 1403 ; BMC ii524 ; BSB-Ink T-251 ; Bod-inc T-146 ; GW M46338 ; Grosjean & O’Connel 110.

Provenance : William O’Brien, booklabel dated 1899.