Geiler von Kaisersberg, Johann
Das buch der sünden des munds
Folio, 350 x 220 mm. 90 ff. 18 woodcuts in the text, two of them full-page.
Modern vellum Bradel binding, probably early 20th century, covered with a leaf from an old gradual bearing two large decorated initials in red and blue. Smooth spine with manuscript title and date.
Bookplate of Gilbert R. Redgrave dated 1894 on the front pastedown and bookplate of Karl and Thilde Wagner on the free endpaper.
The author, Johann Geiler von Kaysersberg, was one of the most celebrated preachers of the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance. Born on 16 March 1445, he was the first holder of the preachership of Strasbourg Cathedral, from 1478 until his death in 1510. Ordained a priest in 1470, he received his doctorate in theology in 1475. In 1476 he became professor of theology at Freiburg im Breisgau and was elected rector of the university that same year. He gave up his academic career in 1477 and preached in Strasbourg from 1478 to 1510. (1)
As Francis Rapp emphasises in "L'art oratoire de Geiler de Kaysersberg", Geiler was a passionate and deeply pious man whose sacred mission as a preacher was to save his fellow men from evil and help them to do good. (2)
Many of his sermons were published during his lifetime or preserved in manuscript by himself or his followers. Das buch der sünden des munds, however, was published eight years after his death by Johannes Grüninger in the Imperial City of Strasbourg, on the feast of St John Chrysostom, in the year 1518.
Our copy is enriched with an autograph letter by Gilbert R. Redgrave, the celebrated 19th-century English bibliographer, President of the Bibliographical Society in 1908 and co-author of the STC, a major reference for the identification and study of early English-language editions. His study of Das buch der sünden des munds in the letter is all the more interesting for it: his rigorous methodology makes it a valuable source of information. He offers an analysis of the woodcuts:
- The woodcut on page 2 showing Geiler in the pulpit first appeared in 1513.
Counting from there, nos. 2 to 5, 8 to 11 and 14 to 16 are the work of the artist H. F.
- No. 6, was first used on the title page of the 1498 Horace.
- No. 7, depicting the "blaspheming soldier", is the work of Hans Baldung Grien.
- No. 17, comes from Brunschwig's "Chirurgia" (1497).
- No. 18, "The Ascension", is taken from the "Brösamlein" of 1517, and
- No. 12, "The Entry of Our Lord into Jerusalem", comes from Geiler's "Passion".
- No. 13 bears the monogram of the artist H. The title border has been attributed to D. Hopfer.
It would appear from the title page that this book, entitled The Sins of the Mouth, was published together with the Alphabet sermons, which are generally regarded as an entirely separate publication said Redgrave.
It would therefore seem that a title page was created with a view to uniting these two works, each of which has its own title page and colophon, into a coherent literary whole.
According to the digitised copy in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, the colophon of the "Alphabet" sermons gives 6 March 1518 as the date of printing, whereas Das buch der sünden des munds was completed by Johannes Grüninger on 27 January 1518. This offers valuable information on the time needed to print the book, and shows that the two works do belong to the same "collection", printed over the same period.
Our copy of the Sins of the Mouth has the common title page. This title page bears the stamp of the prestigious library of the Imperial Abbey of Ochsenhausen. The following title page (that of the Sins of the Mouth) also bears a pasted-on stamp of the abbey library. The book was probably bound for Redgrave: his autograph letter is inserted in the volume, and the binding in reused vellum appears contemporary with him.
The story of the dispersal of the library of the Imperial Abbey of Ochsenhausen is a fascinating one for the world of bibliophily. Upon secularisation in 1803, the abbey was dissolved and the estate passed to the princely family of Metternich. In 1825 the famous Austrian chancellor Klemens Wenzel von Metternich sold the lands and buildings to the Kingdom of Württemberg, but took great care to keep the prestigious monastic library for himself.
He had part of the library moved to his summer residence, Kynžvart Castle in Bohemia (in the present-day Czech Republic); the rest was sold. To this day, the castle library holds hundreds of manuscripts and some 360 incunabula coming directly from this collection. (3)
A magnificent book in very fine condition. The paper is admirably preserved and the woodcuts, depicting scenes of contemporary life, are fascinating, revealing a wealth of detail, everyday objects and clothing. The full-page woodcuts are striking.
VD 16, G 718 and G 719. - Adams G 308. - Oldenbourg L 120. - Ritter 979. - Schmidt I, 157.
Condition: A few light signs of handling; small wormholes in the blank margins of a few leaves; occasional early annotations; small losses restored in the blank margins of the last three leaves.
-
Vie de l’auteur : https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/de/articles/028631/2005-08-18/
-
L’art oratoire de Geiler de Kaysersberg : Rapp Francis. L’art oratoire de Geiler de Kaysersberg : passion et savoirfaire. Janvier-Mars 2016.
-
Der Bibliothekssaal - Kloster Ochsenhause
