1591 Ornatus Ecclesiasticus (Church Ornaments), Jacob Muller. Woodcuts, fold-outs.

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With many large woodcuts, including two foldouts, this book on the ornaments of the church is wonderful to peruse. My favorite items are the bookish, including a wonderfully ornate book in a cabinet of relics, and a piece of vellum on a stretcher with the associated tools to prepare it for a use (my mind imagines a beautiful manuscript, soon be applied).

Ornatus Ecclesiasticus is a 16th century work describing the furnishings, decorations, objects and utensils of 16th century Catholic churches. Uniquely, the 1st part is entirely in Latin, while the 2nd part is in German. The Latin is entirely descriptive, while the German part also includes woodcuts. Although the second part is incomplete (154 of 168 pages), there are still many woodcuts in this copy. I count twenty-four pages with mostly full woodcuts, and twelve smaller 1/2 page (or so) woodcuts.

This work formerly resided in a library in Augsberg Germany, according to the ex libris stamp.

This work is somewhat scarce, at the time of this listing I can't find another copy available for purchase. A handful exist in the world's libraries (several OCLC numbers, including 797719734).

Physical Attributes -

Measures approx. 24 x 18 x 3.5 cm. Vellum spine and corners with a decorated paper covering hardcover boards. Illustrated. Two parts in one. Pages - Part one - (1), [16], 143, Part two - [8], 154, (1).

Condition -

See pictures. Fresher binding of the 20th century. Still a little shelf wear. Bookseller notes erased from pastedown. Ticket of bookseller William Salloch at bottom of pastedown, over an earlier one. Top and bottom of title page excised, likely eliminating provenance marks of the Augsburg library, and one dot near gutter, no text affected. Cutting of bottom edge left impression on two leaves behind; stamp also on the page following the title. Moisture mark intermittent throughout at edges, but it reaches the text at bottom of page 1 to 25. Small wormhole in prefatory works at fore-edge, no text affected. Toning throughout. Occasional spot throughout. Page 73 has stray ink mark in fore-edge margin. Some thumbing. Chipping at top edge from 114 to end at top-margin, no text affected. Bibliographies say the second part should have 168 pages, but this has 154. Stamp and ink stray on last page. Also, tear repaired with combo of paper and tape. Salloch ticket at rear again.

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