ANTONIO DE FLORENCIA, S. (Trans. Miquel PEREÇ)

La vida de Sancta Catherina de Sena - VINYOLES , NARCIS. Cobles en lahor de Sancta Catherina de Sena.

ANTONIO DE FLORENCIA, S. (Trans. Miquel PEREÇ)

La vida de Sancta Catherina de Sena - VINYOLES , NARCIS. Cobles en lahor de Sancta Catherina de Sena. Printer: Cristofol Cofman. Valencia. 11th May 1499. Size: 4º. 44 leaves (88 pages). Extremely rare copy. Two works in a single volume. Prints. ISBN: 84-87988-55-5

Only two copies are known to exist of this Valencian incunabulum, both in Spain. In the words of Konrad Haebler in 1903, "This book is the source of so many bibliographic errors that it is difficult to believe. It is said to have been printed in 1498, in 1494 and in 1489 but a meticulous study of the existing copies together with the different descriptions published about them by scholars and book-lovers, have shown that there was no more than a single edition of this book, published in 1499", (Bibliografía Ibérica del siglo XV, nº. 569).

Saint Catherine devoted herself to the Reformation and it was her confessor, Raimundo de Capua, who initiated the reformation of the Preachers' Order. Saint Catherine of Sienna obviously played an important role in the history of Spanish spirituality, as the history of the editions of her works and her biography so magnificently demonstrate, with marvellous examples from the printing works of Arnao Guillen de Brocar in Alcalá de Henares and thanks to the patronage of Cardinal Cisneros who was particularly fond of this eminent figure of female religious spirituality, who has also been studied in relation with Savonarola.

Vita D. Catherinae de Senis by Saint Anthony of Florence was translated by Miquel Pereç and appears together with Cobles by Narcis Vinyoles. A typically Valencian item.

-Our edition: Valencia, 1999. Coedited with the General and Historical Library of the University of Valencia.
-An edition of 3,000 copies, numbered and signed by public notary, and personally signed by the printer-editor.
-Binding: Parchment upon wooden board.
-Fabric-covered presentation case with gold tooled leather spine containing the facsimile.
-Specially manufactured laid paper.
-Optional: Study in Spanish written by Antoni Ferrando Francés (Professor of the Philology Faculty at the University of Valencia). Included in Bibliofilia Antigua VI.