Augustinus (Aurelius, Saint) De civitate dei, collation: [a b⁸ c-z A-H¹⁰], 306ff., including blanks a¹, b⁸ and H^9&10, double column, 46 lines and headline, Gothic letter, major initials in blue (one red) with red penwork decoration, other initials and paragraph-marks alternately in red and blue, occasional later ink marginalia and underlining, later still occasional pencil markings, water-stained at head to varying degrees, some marginal foxing, occasional spotting or staining, vellum endpapers, the rear being a German document Freiburg, 1434, contemporary panelled calf over wooden boards, ornately blind-stamped with bands of filets, floral sprays and cable-work, upper cover with brass clasps (lacking those of lower cover), professionally rebacked, preserving original backstrip in compartments, repaired, rubbed and marked, preserved in modern cloth drop-back box with morocco label to spine and "B-P-H" in gilt to lid (a little rubbed at edges), [BMC V, 175; Goff A-1235; HC *2051; GW 2879; Bod-Inc A-522; BSB-Ink A-858; ISTC ia01235000; cf. PMM 3], folio (285 x 201mm.), Venice, Nicolaus Jenson, 2 October, 1475.

⁂ The Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica (J.R. Ritman) copy of the second Venetian edition of Augustine's magnum opus. "...both Luther and Calvin took Augustine as the foundation of Protestantism next to the Bible itself." (PMM).

Provenance: Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, acquired from Bernard Quaritch, 1989 (bookplate to front inner board).