First incunable edition of the Methodus utriusque iuris emerged from one of the most enterprising presses of the late 15th century, that of Johann Koelhoff the Elder (active ca. 1471-1487, died 1493).
Koelhoff was not originally a printer. Born in Lübeck, he began his career as a merchant trading in cattle, grain, wool, and paper, a commercial background that would later shape his success in the book trade. By 1471, he had established a printing house in Cologne, likely after learning the craft in Venice, possibly in the workshop of Wendelin von Speyer (active in Venice 1468 to 1477). The clear rotunda type he favoured, along with other technical features, suggests a Venetian influence carried north to the Rhineland. His press produced over 125 known editions, primarily Latin theological and philosophical works, though from 1475 onwards he also printed legal texts intended for university use.
This Methodus utriusque iuris belongs precisely to that academic world. It served as a methodological guide and lexical aid for the study of the "two laws": civil law (Roman law, rooted in the Corpus Juris Civilis of Justinianus I) and canon law. Cologne, home to the influential University of Cologne, was a centre for the study of the ius commune, and works such as this were essential tools for students and jurists alike.
With an ownership label mounted on the front pastedown reading "Ex libris Van Vaernewuck", possibly referring to a member of the Van Vaernewijck (Van Vaernewyck) family, the most notable bearer of this name is Marcus van Vaernewijck (1518-1569), the Ghent chronicler and humanist. Contemporary manuscript annotations to the recto and verso of the final leaf, including references such as "Digesti Veteris." Otherwise in very good condition. BMC I 224; Copinger, part I, no. 1895; GW M23075; ISTC im00526500; Polain 2683; Proctor 1048A; Rhodes, Oxford, 1197; USTC 741179; Voulliéme 787; not in Goff.