MEDITATIONS AND PRAYERS BASED ON THE WRITINGS OF ST. AUGUSTINE, 1534, BEAUTIFULLY BOUND IN ELABORATELY GILT-DECORATED 16TH-CENTURY VENETIAN CALF

(AUGUSTINE). Meditationum Sive Praecationum Secretarum Libellus… Insuper Eiusdem Soliloquia, & Manuale. Venetiis: (Ioannem Patauinum & Venturinum de Ruffinellis), 1534. 16mo (3 by 4-1/2 inches), contemporary Venetian full brown calf, elaborately gilt-decorated spine and covers, raised bands, evidence of ties, all edges gilt and gauffered; ff. [160]. Housed in a custom chemise and clamshell box. $4800.

Beautifully bound 16th-century Venetian pocket edition of Meditations, Prayers, and a Manual of sayings from the Church Fathers, in Latin, all works of piety not directly authored by St. Augustine but compiled by unknown scholars from the sentiments in the saint's writings. An exceptional copy in fine contemporary gilt-decorated Venetian calf.

This volume brings together three medieval pseudo-Augustinian devotional texts. The Meditations contains heavily annotated prayers and meditations containing numerous quotations from and allusions to Scripture, the Prayers [Soliloquia] another group of prayers, as well as a psalm purported to have been composed by Augustine for his mother, Monica; and the Manual another group of devotional meditations attributed to Church fathers. These three works were commonly printed and bound together during the 16th century, with the first printed edition appearing circa 1480. Text in Latin.

Small expert repairs to title page; three signatures toward rear of text with faint dampstain; a few faint rubs or minuscule cracks to spine. An excellent copy, in an beautifully gilt-decorated morocco binding that is remarkably bright and fresh.