Beschreibung:

OROSIUS, Paulus (fl.414-417). Historiae adversus paganos , in French: Les histoires de Paul Orose . - SENECA, attributed to [MARTINUS DUMIENSIS, Archbishop of Braga]. De quattuor virtutibus cardinalibus, sive De formula honestae vitae , in French: Senecque des motz dorez des quatre vertus . [Translated by Jean Courtecuisse.] - Livre des mots dorés . Paris: [Pierre Le Rouge, for] Antoine Vérard 21 August 1491. 3 parts in one volume, royal 2° (380 x 271mm). Collation: [Orosius part I:] RR 8 SS 4 a-z 8; \\m 6 aa 8 bb-dd 6 (RR1r part one title, RR1v blank, RR2r translator's preface, RR3r table to part one, SS4v blank, a1r translator's preface, a1v letter from St. Augustine to St. Jerome, note by the translator, a2r author's prologue, note by the translator, a3r text, dd6v blank); [Orosius part II:] \Kc\k 4 A-I 8 L-N 8 O 6 P 4 Q-R 6 (\Kc\k1r part two title, \Kc\k2r table to part two, A1r text, R5v colophon, Vérard's device, R6 blank); [ps-Seneca:] AA 6 BB 4 CC-EE 8 Ff-GG 6 (AA1r title, AA1v blank, AA2r dedication to Charles VIII, AA3r author's prologue, text, GG5r table, GG6r colophon, GG6v blank). 228; 122; 46 leaves. 48 lines and (in Orosius) headline giving foliation, double column. Le Rouge type: 3:236G; 2:117B, 5:91B. Title to Orosius part I and II with large woodcut calligraphic L, historiated with figures, birds, and beasts, woodcut presentation scene within 3-part border opening preface of Orosius, repeated opening dedication in ps-Seneca; large woodcut historiated initial P opening translator's prologue; woodcut initial S opening letter of St Augustine and author's prologue; half-page woodcut initial I with inset figure of Christ opening the first Age; large initials opening Ages II-IV, all with multi-part woodcut border; double-page woodcut world map; 6 full-page woodcut genealogical tables; one double-column-width woodcut; 203 column-width woodcuts, including repeats; Vérard device; woodcut diagram; numerous woodcut borders; woodcut initials (none in ps-Seneca); initial spaces, most with printed guide-letter. Foliation in ps-Seneca written in 16/17th-century black ink. (A little worming in text in first and last 4 quires, repaired tears into text without loss in 7 leaves, lower margin of RR2 and blank corner of DD7 replaced, small marginal repairs in a few other leaves, occasional small stains, hinges of RR1.8, 2.7, SS1.4 and last quire strengthened.) Contemporary blindstamped white half leather tooled in blind with intersecting fillets, rosettes, and leaf stamps, two fore-edge clasps (boards cracked and with small wormholes, lightly restored, endleaves renewed, clasp leather renewed). Provenance : 'Francois et ses Amys' (16th-century inscription lightly deleted) -- De la Cour (16/17th-century inscription). FIRST EDITION IN FRENCH of both works. The first work offers a translation and new compilation drawn from Orosius's popular universal history and the Histoire ancienne jusqu'à César , undertaken at the command of Charles VIII, to whom it is dedicated; the royal presentation copy, printed on vellum and illuminated, is preserved at the Bibliothèque nationale. The translator/editor remains anonymous but was also the translator of Vérard's 1492 edition of Josephus dedicated to the king. The 5th-century Spanish theologian wrote his Histories against the Pagans partly at the behest of St. Augustine. It is a universal history written to counter belief prevalent among non-Christians of his time that disasters which had befallen civilisation were the result of the gods, angry with worshippers turning to Christianity. Orosius shows that disasters happened in all ages, and that contemporary disasters were rather the result of the sin of unbelievers. It became a standard history text in the Middle Ages, and it is important in the transmission of the legend of Alexander the Great (cf. Ross, Alexander Historiatus , pp.74-74). The Alexander story, part of the history of Macedon, appears here on quires \\m-dd. Although sometimes