BERNARDINUS SENENSIS, Saint (1380-1444). Quadragesimale de christiana religione. [Basel: Johann Amerbach, not after 1489].


Folio (297 x 20 9 mm). Collation: a¹⁰ b–d⁸ e–h⁶⋅⁸ i-k⁶ l–v⁸⋅⁶ x-y⁶ z⁸ A⁶ Aa-B⁸ C-D⁶ E–H⁸⋅⁶ I⁸ K-L¹⁰. 254 leaves. Double column. 54 lines and headline. Type 4:185G, 6:108G, 11:82G, 14:285G. Initials supplied in red, capital strokes in red. (Leaf a1 soiled and stained with some paper repairs slightly affecting text on the Tabula on verso [some letters supplied in ink facsimile], a4 with small hole resulting from ink burn on initial affecting text slightly on recto, paper reinforcements on margins of a10, b4 and c3, small marginal chip on H5, L10 soiled and laid down repairing tears crossing text, some leaves browned, occasional spotting or staining.) Contemporary Basel blindstamped calf over wooden boards, remnants of clasps (joints cracked, spine repaired, bosses removed, worn, some old sewn repairs). Provenance: some contemporary marginalia; removed ink ownership stamp on fore-margin of a2.

Saint Bernardino of Sienna was an Italian priest and Franciscan missionary preacher in Italy, and a systematizer of Scholastic economics. His preaching, his book burnings, and his "bonfires of the vanities" made him famous/infamous during his own lifetime because they were frequently directed against sorcery, gambling, infanticide, witchcraft, homosexuals, Jews, Romani "Gypsies", usury, etc. Bernardino was later canonised by the Catholic Church as a Saint—where he is also referred to as "the Apostle of Italy”—for his efforts to revive the country's Catholicism during the 15th century. The present work collects 66 of those sermons.
Goff B346; HC 2834*; Pell 2083; Pr 7632; BMC III, 751; BSB-Ink B-298; GW 3882; ISTC ib00346000.