Contenta in hoc volvmine: Pimander. Mercurij Trismegisti liber de de [sic] sapientia et potestate dei. Asclepius. Eiusdem Mercurij liber de voluntate diuina…, 1505

Curatorial Notes:

Hermes Trismegistus was an important authority in 15th-century Europe, as the eponymous author of the Hermetic Corpus of Greek wisdom texts. Although the Corpus was actually composed around the second and third centuries, Hermes was long thought to be a contemporary of Moses — a dating error that conferred enormous prestige on his supposed writings. Many of these, including the influential Pimander, seen here in an early edition, take the form of dialogues between a master and a disciple.

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Rare Books Division, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library

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Description:

Signatures: a-h⁸ i-l⁶.
Colophon: Crateris Hermetis adiecti Pimandro & Asclepio Mercurij Trismegisti finis. Parisiis in officina Henrici Stephani recognitoribus me[n]dasq[ue] ex ofcina eleuntibus Ioa[n]ne Solido Cracouiensi. & Volgacio Pratensi anno domini saluatoris M.D.V.Cale[n]dis Aprilis.
Spaces with guide letters left for capitals.
Errors in foliation: 26 as 29, 29 as 26, 30-34 as 20,21,22,22; 35 upside down 32; 36-39 as 26-29; 53 as 35; 67 omitted; 68-69 repeated, 76 as 68; 77 as 78; 90 as 82.
The poem on the title page is by Peter Porta, a corrector at the Estienne shop, who was assisted by Jan Schilling (Ioannes Solidus) and Wolfgang von Mart (Volgatius Pratensis), whose names are recorded in the Colophon.

Binding note:

Ex copy: Binding includes fragments of breviary, France, ? early 15th cent.
Bound by the Carthusians at Wedderen, near Dülmen, Westphalia; in the lower panel of the front cover are 2 heart-shaped stamps containing letters "H" and "G", possibly the initials of the monk who bound the volume.
Bound in 16th-century blind stamped calf over wooden boards; blind-stamped with fleurs de lys, griffins, etc.; spine title painted in black on red.

References:

Renouard 1505 no.3.
Schreiber no.4.
E. P. Goldschmidt, Gothic and Renaissance Bindings, Vol I, p. 249.
E. P. Goldschmidt, Catalogue forty-one. [Cover-title:] Books and manuscripts, ancient and mediaeval literature (London, 1936), no. 112.

Provenance:

In mss. on first titlepage: "Liber domui castrimarie prope Dulmaniam ordinis Carthusiensis.'

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