9. Two Unrecorded Incunabula

The Book Collector (London) 1957 Autumn Nr. 259–262.

I

Three different editions of the Chancellery Regulations, dated 8 August 1495, issued by Pope Alexander VI and printed in Rome, are recorded under Nos. 918–920 in the Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke. One of these[1] had already been described by Hain[2] on the basis of the copy in the Staatsbibliothek at Munich. The GW also mentions another location: the Library of the Benedictine Order at Pannonhalma (Martinsberg, Hungary) and a copy of these Regulations is in fact preserved there;[3] but a close examination reveals at once that it is not identical with the edition described by Hain. The editors of the GW had never seen the Pannonhalma copy and must evidently have learned of its existence from Récsey’s description of it.[4] Récsey, as it turned out, blundered in identifying it with the edition in Hain. The description he gave in his printed catalogue was based, not on an examination of the copy itself, but on Hain’s description, which he simply copied out, with the exception of the abbreviations, which he wrote out in full. That he employed this inaccurate method with other incunabula is proved by the underlined words in the copy of Hain used by Récsey in the Library at Pannonhalma.

Comparison of the Pannonhalma copy of the Regulations with the entries of GW 918 and 919 shows that it is not identical with either of them. From an examination of the type it appears that the edition to which it belongs came from the press of Johann Prüss at Strassburg. The full text was printed with Haebler’s type No. 10.[5] The only ornament is a woodcut initial letter „S” at the beginning of the text: 40 mm high and 30 mm wide.[6] The day of issue (8 August 1495) of these statutes serves as a „post quem” for the date of printing. In view of the fact that in subsequent years several similar Regulations were again issued, it can rightly be assumed that the edition in question left the press either some time towards the end of 1495 or in the following year.

The bibliographical description (in the style of the GW) is as follows:

Alexander VI., Papa: Regulae cancellariae (8. August 1495). [Straßburg: Johann Prüss, nicht vor 8. August 1495.] 4°  
4 Bl. Sign.: a4. 51 Z. Type: 10: 65G Init: g, rubr.: a: BI. 1a: ¶ Conſtitutiões & reuocatiões nouiter per Sanctiſſimũ || dñm noſtrũ dñm Alexandrum Papam ſextum ſãcte ſu-||per expectatiuis de proximo concedendis. || (S13)Anctiſſimus in xġo pater & dñs nŕ dñs Alexander diuina Ĵui-||dentia Papa. vi. intendens adueniente menſe. Januarij Ĵxime || futuri gŕas expectatiuas cõcedere. Ne illi quibus ćcedenţ ġte-||xtu… Endet Bl. 3 b Z. 48: ¶ Lecte & publicate fuerunt ſupraſcripte regule Rome in Can||cellaria apoſtolica die ſabbati. viij. menſis Auguſti. Anno dñi || M. cccc. xcv. Pon. S. D. n. dñi Alexandri Anno eius. iij. || Bl. 4 leer.

The text of the apparently unique Pannonhalma copy appears to be closest to that of the edition printed at Rome by Eucharius Silber.[7] Some turns of expression – particularly the abbreviations in the last line – are identical. We are perhaps not mistaken therefore in considering it as a reprint of Silber’s edition. It is interesting to note that at present no copies of any of the three Rome editions are recorded in Italy; only one copy of each has so far been recorded and they are in German libraries, viz.: Königsberg;[8] Einsiedeln[9] and Munich.[10]

II

From the collection of fragments of early printing in the University Library at Budapest an imperfect broadside has recently come to light. It had presumably been used for the backing of a volume which cannot now be identified. In its original form it must have been a broadside almanac of folio size, but only the upper half, rather badly worn, has survived.

This calendar for the year 1492 is not identical with any of the almanacs recorded in the GW. The design of the letters shows that it was printed with types No. 1 and No. 2 used by Gregorius Böttiger (alias Wermann) of Leipzig.[11] The initial letter „A” also belongs to Böttinger’s initial-series „c”.

As many as nine broadsides printed with these types are known to have been produced by this printer,[12] of which five are calendars in the German or Latin languages respectively. It can be asserted, therefore, that this newly found calendar fits appropriately into the picture of his activity.

What we know of the latter covers only the period from 1493 to 1497.[13] As the calendar in question was destined for 1492, it may be assumed that it was printed in the last months of 1491. Accordingly it is now possible to extend, however slightly, the period of Böttiger’s known activity.

Although this imperfect copy does not name the place or printer, the evidence of the type and the fragmentary words „super Lip.…” at the end of 1. 4 confirm that this calendar was made for Leipzig.

The Budapest fragment, unlike other recorded calendars by the same printer, contains no woodcuts. We may reasonably infer, moreover, that there was no room for woodcuts on the missing lower half, because the setting of the text takes up much more space than it does, for example, on the Latin calendar for 1495 which does contain woodcuts.[14] Such comparatively modest execution is, however, easily comprehensible, considering that this was the work of a printer at the outset of his career.

The bibliographical description (in the style of the GW) is as follows:

Almanach auf das Jahr 1492, lat. [Leipzig: Gregor Boettiger].

1 Bl. einseitig bedruckt. ?×285 mm 49 + ? Z. Z. 7 – [49] in 2 Sp. Typen:1: 90G; 2:136G. Rubr.: a Schwarz und rot gedruckt.    
Z. 1: [A]Nno nŕe ſalutis MCCCCxcij. Qui eſt biſextilis. || Ciclus lũaris ſiue Aureus nũerus. 11. Ciclus ſolaris 17. Lŕe || dñicales A […] || 10 Interuallũ… || Z. 7–19: Mondphasen. || Z. 20: […]ur tģa fleubothomie et farmacie electa ſcďm motum ||… Das Bruchstück endet Sp. 2. Z. 49: […] Sabbato […]

Két ismeretlen ősnyomtatvány

Magyarországi könyvtárakban őriznek két olyan kis terjedelmű ősnyomtatványt, amelyet nem ismer a Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke. Az egyik VI. Sándor pápa kancelláriai szabályzata, amelyet négy levélen a stassburgi Prüss-nyomdában állítottak elő. A másik plakát alakú latin nyelvű naptár 1492-re, amely Gregor Boettiger lipcsei műhelyében készült.