< Back

The famous Rooklooster and the Congregation of Windesheim: two post-incunables and a 15th century manuscript in an original Rooklooster binding!

[INCUNABLE, POST].
Ordinarius divini officii pro ordine Canonicorum Regularium, Capittuli sive Congregationis Wyndesemensis. Anno Domini. M.CCCCC.XXI.

Printed title within magnificent woodcut border consisting of four pieces: the four fathers of the church - Hieronymus and Ambrosius left and Augustinus and Gregorius at the right - and very lively and grotesque scenes of Indians, children playing with and riding exotic and fable animals like a dragon, a camel and an elephant above and below; two smaller woodcuts for the finding of the 'Golden number' and the Sunday letter' in text; very nice woodcut initials of 5 lines (one of 9 lines; the first 'O' on the title of 4 lines, with appropriately Augustin's symbol - a pierced heart); at the end a full-page woodcut of the Virgin with child on a crescent moon in a halo. <B><I>All the illustrations are fully and nicely coloured by a contemporary hand</I></B>. The book is printed in a beautiful and clear roman type, apart from the two first lines of the title which are in gothic; rubricated throughout.

Printed title within magnificent woodcut border consisting of four pieces: the four fathers of the church - Hieronymus and Ambrosius left and Augustinus and Gregorius at the right - and very lively and grotesque scenes of Indians, children playing with and riding exotic and fable animals like a dragon, a camel and an elephant above and below; two smaller woodcuts for the finding of the 'Golden number' and the Sunday letter' in text; very nice woodcut initials of 5 lines (one of 9 lines; the first 'O' on the title of 4 lines, with appropriately Augustin's symbol - a pierced heart); at the end a full-page woodcut of the Virgin with child on a crescent moon in a halo. <B><I>All the illustrations are fully and nicely coloured by a contemporary hand</I></B>. The book is printed in a beautiful and clear roman type, apart from the two first lines of the title which are in gothic; rubricated throughout.

Printed title within magnificent woodcut border consisting of four pieces: the four fathers of the church - Hieronymus and Ambrosius left and Augustinus and Gregorius at the right - and very lively and grotesque scenes of Indians, children playing with and riding exotic and fable animals like a dragon, a camel and an elephant above and below; two smaller woodcuts for the finding of the 'Golden number' and the Sunday letter' in text; very nice woodcut initials of 5 lines (one of 9 lines; the first 'O' on the title of 4 lines, with appropriately Augustin's symbol - a pierced heart); at the end a full-page woodcut of the Virgin with child on a crescent moon in a halo. <B><I>All the illustrations are fully and nicely coloured by a contemporary hand</I></B>. The book is printed in a beautiful and clear roman type, apart from the two first lines of the title which are in gothic; rubricated throughout.

Printed title within magnificent woodcut border consisting of four pieces: the four fathers of the church - Hieronymus and Ambrosius left and Augustinus and Gregorius at the right - and very lively and grotesque scenes of Indians, children playing with and riding exotic and fable animals like a dragon, a camel and an elephant above and below; two smaller woodcuts for the finding of the 'Golden number' and the Sunday letter' in text; very nice woodcut initials of 5 lines (one of 9 lines; the first 'O' on the title of 4 lines, with appropriately Augustin's symbol - a pierced heart); at the end a full-page woodcut of the Virgin with child on a crescent moon in a halo. <B><I>All the illustrations are fully and nicely coloured by a contemporary hand</I></B>. The book is printed in a beautiful and clear roman type, apart from the two first lines of the title which are in gothic; rubricated throughout.

Printed title within magnificent woodcut border consisting of four pieces: the four fathers of the church - Hieronymus and Ambrosius left and Augustinus and Gregorius at the right - and very lively and grotesque scenes of Indians, children playing with and riding exotic and fable animals like a dragon, a camel and an elephant above and below; two smaller woodcuts for the finding of the 'Golden number' and the Sunday letter' in text; very nice woodcut initials of 5 lines (one of 9 lines; the first 'O' on the title of 4 lines, with appropriately Augustin's symbol - a pierced heart); at the end a full-page woodcut of the Virgin with child on a crescent moon in a halo. <B><I>All the illustrations are fully and nicely coloured by a contemporary hand</I></B>. The book is printed in a beautiful and clear roman type, apart from the two first lines of the title which are in gothic; rubricated throughout.



Deventer, Albert Pafraet, April 1521. 4to. In a beautifully and richly paneled original and signed binding of the famous Rooklooster (the 'Red monastery'), the Augustinian Abbey of St. Paul in Oudergem (Auderghem) in the 'Soniënbos' (Forest of Zonia) near Brussels: full polished calf over wooden boards with (on both sides) two borders of three lines with rolls in between and a stamp of the Holy Lamb in the four corners and lozenge-shaped floral ornaments in the centre divided by three lines with a little floral double-rose stamp on the crossings; below the central panel on the front side a stamp "Roedencloester" flanked by eight little stamps of a star within a circle; one brass clasp and catch at the fore edge, brass strips at the edges of the corners; vellum pastedowns. Printed title within magnificent woodcut border consisting of four pieces: the four fathers of the church - Hieronymus and Ambrosius left and Augustinus and Gregorius at the right - and very lively and grotesque scenes of Indians, children playing with and riding exotic and fable animals like a dragon, a camel and an elephant above and below; two smaller woodcuts for the finding of the 'Golden number' and the Sunday letter' in text; very nice woodcut initials of 5 lines (one of 9 lines; the first 'O' on the title of 4 lines, with appropriately Augustin's symbol - a pierced heart); at the end a full-page woodcut of the Virgin with child on a crescent moon in a halo. All the illustrations are fully and nicely coloured by a contemporary hand. The book is printed in a beautiful and clear roman type, apart from the two first lines of the title which are in gothic; rubricated throughout. [16], LXXIV ll. (x4, a8, b4, A-C8, D4, E-I8, K6). LXXIIIv and LXXIVr blank.

With:
(2) [INCUNABLE, POST]. Statuta capituli Windeshemensis. - Incipiunt statuta capituli de windesim. impressa amstelredammis Et primo de elecione intronisatione & confirmatione novi prioris. Den Hem (near Schoonhoven), Regular canon Frater N., 1508. 4to. 63 ll; fol. 4 and last l. blank (x4, A-K6 (fol. B6 is cut out, just as also in the copy in the Royal Library in The Hague, and the text apparently runs on (we haven't seen the second copy in the British Library, London)). With large handcoloured woodcut (125 x 105 mm.) of Augustin holding his crosier in his right and his pierced heart in his left hand and standing in a cupola underneath the two lines of the title (HMT 118 (102); Kok, p. 732 (32.2) by the second woodcutter of the Regulars Canons at Den Hem)). Rubricated throughout. Gothic type.

(3) [MANUSCRIPT - LATIN]. Forma inclusionis.- Latin manuscript. (Rooklooster, after 1480 (ca. 1490)). Rubricated throughout. 17 ll. (19 x13.5 cm. (written space 14 x 9.5 cm.): one quire of 18-1 ll: fol. 2 (blank) cut out.; fol. 2-3 and 16-17 blank); written in a neat Hybrida libraria with titles in a textualis.

Two very rare post-incunables printed in Deventer and De Hem near Schoonhoven and a very interesting manuscript probably written in Rooklooster, all three being primary sources for the history of the Modern Devotion in the Low Countries in general and the famous monastery Rooklooster at Auderghem in the Zonia forest near Brussels in particular. The three items are bound in a strictly contemporary blind tooled leather binding over wooden boards with the stamp of the bindery at Rooklooster on the front cover.
All three items are of the utmost importance for the affiliation of Rooklooster with the so-called Congregation of Windesheim in 1412. In the course of that century many monasteries in the Northern as well as in the Southern Netherlands and the lower Rhine area affiliated with the Congregation founded in the Monastery of the Regular canons at Windesheim near Zwolle, a city situated in Overijssel, the area where the spiritual movement of the Modern Devotion - founded by Geert Grote - was originating from. Inspired by the spirituality of Ruusbroec - who lived for many years in the monstery Groenendael near the Rooklooster in the Zonia forest - and the way of living of the Carthusians the Congregation aspired to an interiorization of their religious life and enhancement of devotion, focusing on the spiritual practise, attitude of humility and prayer relationship with God.
Time and again the question of the enclosure (clausura, 'inclusio', not allowing the monks to leave the monastery) came up in these monasteries, also in Rooklooster in the years 1477-1480, after the clausure was introduced there officially in 1438. In connection with that question the manuscript texts of the ecclesiastical instruments were collected, copied and bound together with the two most important printed texts relating to the Congregation.
Rooklooster is famous for its library and the intriguing catalogue of the books present in Rooklooster, as well as in many other monasteries of the Congregation, compiled by the Canons at Rooklooster (now in the National Library in Vienna). Many of the books from Rooklooster are now in Paris (Arsenal and Bibl. Mazarin), Vienna and Brussels. See for these books and the  Rooklooster catalogue: P. Obbema, 'Het register van Rooklooster op de weegschaal', in: P. Obbema, De Middeleeuwen in handen (1996), pp. 103-120 and W. de Vreese, 'De Dietsche boeken van 't Rooklooster omstreeks het jaar 1400', in: W. de Vreese, Over handschriften en handschriftenkunde (1962), pp. 61-70. This Dr. W. de Vreese has been the owner of the present book!

Ad 1: The first edition of the Ordinarius of the Congregation of Windesheim: outlining and prescribing the Liturgy and Holy Office as practised in the Windesheim monasteries. The book is printed in a very clear and beautiful roman type (except for the first two lines of the title) and illustrated with very nice woodcuts on the title and at the end, and two woodcuts on fol. VIIIr to help finding the 'Golden number' and the 'Sunday letter'; on the verso is a table of the movable feasts facilitating to determine the ecclesiastical calendar.
The title-page border (illustrated in Vervliet, Post-Incunabula, p. 131and in NAT, IV, 16) is used here for the first time. Apart from the blocks at the left and right side of the title, with the four fathers of the church, there are people in Indian dress playing together with children and riding exotic and fable animals - a.o. an elephant and camel -,  in the blocks at the top and at the bottom. These two blocks with Indians are thought to have been disigned by Urs Graf. They appeared during a short space of time since 1518 in the work of various printers at Basle, Schlettstadt, Cologne and Tübingen. Our Deventer border bears a striking resemblance to that used by Schürer at Schlettstadt. With these early representations of Indian people our book is also an important Americanum. In 1521 Pafraet was on the point of changing from black letter to roman types. In this edition he only had the title set in roman type; his first work completely set in that new type dates from May 1521 (Vervliet).
After the title, prologue, contents, errata and a calendar (fols. a2r-b4v), there is the text of the Ordinarius on fols. Ir-LXVIIr, followed by the "Tractatus de periculis Misse" on fols. LXVIIv-LXXIIr, and the treatise "Ut posteri habeant formam dicendi Confiteor in privato ..." on fols. LXXIIr-LXXIIIr. The colophon on LXXIIIr reads: "Daventriae ex officina chalcotypa Alberti Pafradi Anno salutis nostrae vicesimoprimo, supra sesquimillesimum, Mense Aprili". Albert Pafraet is the son of the important and first printer at Deventer Richard Pafraet. Both, father and son have contributed much to make Deventer the most important centre of book production in the Northern Netherlands around the turn of the 15th century.

Ad 2: The first printed edition of the Statutes or Constitution of the Congregation of Windesheim. In the beginning of the 16th century the Chapter General of the Congregation decided to make a revised edition of the Statutes which were up to then only available in manuscript form. The second edition of the printed text appeared in 1552, followed by the Utrecht edition by Hermannus Borculo in 1553. In 1639 a revised edition was published in Louvain. The title reads: " Incipiunt statuta ... impressa Amstelredammis". Probably there has been an Amsterdam edition of an earlier date which is lost. The book is printed in the well-known Lettersnyder-type. After the title the work starts with the "Forma aut modus precedendi in electione, confirmatione & inthronisatione novi prioris" (fols. 2r-3v), followed by the colophon "Impressum In den hem per me f(rater) N. eiusdem conventus canonicum regularem" and a blank. The text is on fols. A1r-K5v, ending with the colophon "Anno domini M.CCCCC.octavo impressa sunt hec statuta capituli windeshemensis ad instantiam & sumptum venerabilium patrem eiusdem capituli. per manus fratris N. canonici regularis in den hem extra scoenhoviam partis hollandie".

Ad 3: Ecclesiastical letters, bulls and instruments in handwriting concerning the controversial introduction of the enclosure (clausura) in Rooklooster (see also Paris, Bibl. Mazarine, Ms. 1773, p. 102-22). The texts are dated 1478-1480 and are issued or written by the papal nuncios Honofrius, bishop of Tricarico in the province Matera, Italy and Lucas, bishop of Sebenico in Croatia, Paulus de Rota, canon and treasurer of the diocese of Cambrae and the bishop of Cambrai Johannes de Burgundia (before 1419-1480), the illigitimate son of Jean the Fearless and brother of Philip the Good.

Contents:
f. 1r: title ('Forma inclusionis'), verso blank.
f. 4r: (preface) Incipit: Reveren. in xristo pater et domino domino dei et apostolice sedis gratia Episcopo Cameracensis. Eiusque in spiritualibus et comparalibus? vicario et officiali ...ali?. Necnon religiosis viris dominis Beate marie in windesim ac sancti Pauli Rubeevallis in Zonia monasteriorum per priores gubernari solitorum prioribus et conventibus eorundem Ordinis sa. Augustini Traiectensis et Cameracensis dyocesium ... seu quicunque perfulgeant dignitate Paulus de Rota in utriusque iure licenciatus Canionicus et Thesaurarius ecclesie Cameracensis iudex executor ... per Adrianum Buyselout presbyterem et dicti monasterii Rubeevallensis Canonicum regularem ...Et sunt tales.
ff. 4v-5r (Letter of Pope Sixtus IV to Paulus de Rota, Rome, 6 Oct. 1479). Incipit: Sixtus Epioscopus Servus servorum dei dilecto filio Paulo de Rota Canonico Cameracensis Salutem et apostolicem benedictionem. Inter curas multiplices quibus rerum negociorumque varietate distrahimur ...
f. 5r-6v (idem, 17.2.1479) Universis et singulis ... Cum nuper placuerit sanctissimo ... domino Sixto divina providentia pape ...
ff. 6v-7r (Bull of the nuncio Honofrius, bishop of Tricarico, Italy). Inc.: Honofrius dei et apostolice gratis episcopus Tricaricensis. Sanctissimi domini nostri pape referendarius ... Leodiensis Tornacensis et Traiectensis civitatibus ... cum clausula ...  Dated Brussels, 27 January 1469.
ff. 7r-8r (Bull of the nuncio Lucas, bishop of Sebenico, Croatia). Inc.: Lucas dei et apostolice sedis gratia episcopus Sibenicensis ... Illa fore concedenda non ambigimus ...  Dated Ghent 2 February 1476.
ff. 8r-14r: Sequitur bulla domini nostri Episcopi Cameracensi cum ordinatione nove forme inclusionis. The bull on enclosure (clausura) by the bishop of Cambrai, Johannes de Burgundia, was signed by the clericus Guilielmus Tswinnen from the diocese of Cambrai, dated Brussels, 4 September 1478. Inc. (fol. 8v): Universis et singulis presentes literas inspecturis Johannes de Burgundia ... episcopus Cameracensis Salutem in domino. Cum dudum anno videlicet 1438 mensis octobris die 30 ...
ff. 14r-15v: Commentary by Paulus de Rota on the foregoing bull, dated Brussels, 21 April 1480 and was signed by the clericus Guilielmus Tswinnen. Inc.: Quibus quidem literis patentibus et aliis coram ...

Hinges broken (neatly repaired), knobs and the two small brass strips at the lower binding edges lacking;  manuscript ll. cut slightly short affecting some of the marginal notes and tear in first title-page. Very good copy with handwritten ownership's entry on the first title-page: "Bibliothecae Rubee vallis", from the libraries of the book collectors Dr. Willem de Vreese and J.P.L. van der Lande in Deventer; small library ticket ('119') on top of spine (Fairfax Murray?).
Monasticon Windesh. 1, pp. 109-130 (this copy: p. 115). Ad 1: Acquoy, Windesheim I (1875), pp. 209-10, III (1880), pp. 302-5; BCNI 813; Jan van Ruusbroec (Exp. cat. Brussels, 1981), 226; H.M. Franke, Ordinarius divini officii ... congregationis Windeshemense (diss. Roma, 1981; and German translation: Leverkusen 1981); Nijhoff & Kronenberg 1649;Vervliet, Post-Incunabula (1979), pp. 130-131; S. van der Woude, 'Het Calendarium van Windesheim', in: Huldeboek Bon. Kruitwagen, pp. 465-81; Mon. Wind. II (1977), pp. 61-70; Moderne Devotie. Figuren en facetten (1984), nr. 86. Ad 2: Acquoy, Windesheim I (1875), p. 93, nt. 1, 144-224 (esp. 205-9); BCNI 293; Dalm. van Heel, 'Het klooster ... te Den Hem bij Schoonhoven', in: Archief gesch. aartsbisdom Utrecht, 69 (1950), pp. 173-9; Jan van Ruusbroec (Exp. cat. Brussels, 1981), 224; W. Lourdeaux & E. Persoons, 'De statuten van de Windesheimse mannenkloosters in handschrift en druk', in: Archief gesch. Kath. kerk in Ned., 6 (1964), pp. 180-224 (with mention of this copy); Jaspers, Den Hem en zijn drukpers, nr. 33; Nijhoff & Kronenberg 1950; Vervliet, Post-Incunabula, p. 116. Ad 3: Similar manuscript collections are known from other monasteries belonging to the Congregation of Windesheim: Groenendaal (Hoeilaart; Exposition cat. Jan van Ruysbroec (Brussels, Royal Library, 1981), nr. 27) and Zevenborren (St. Genesius-Rode; Huisman, Cat. middeleeuwse handschriften in de UB Nijmegen, nr. 67).

Related Subjects: Belgicana  Church History  Devotion  Eclipses  Low Countries  Religious Orders 

Add to Shopping cart
€ 55.000,00

Prices in EUROS (€), shipping and BTW/VAT extra.

< Back

Terms of sale

All items are offered subject to prior sale. Prices are nett and in (€) EURO. VAT/BTW, postage, and insurance are not included. 

Free shipping for orders over € 2,500.  EU customers: if applicable, please quote your VAT number when placing orders.

Preferred mode of payment: by credit card through our secure online payment service, which is facilitated by Ogone. If you wish to make other arrangements, please contact us. Terms of sale

E-mail this to a friend







This is a captcha-picture. It is used to prevent mass-access by robots. (see: www.captcha.net)

Type the characters that you see in the box (5 characters). The code can include characters 0..9 and A..F.*

  


Antiquariaat FORUM B.V.
Tuurdijk 16
3997 MS t Goy-Houten,
The Netherlands
Phone: (+31) (0)30 601 1955
Fax: (+31) (0)30 601 1813
E-mail: info@forumrarebooks.com
Web: http://www.forumrarebooks.com