‘THE GREATEST OF THE MEDIEVAL ENCYCLOPAEDIC DICTIONARIES’
BALBUS, Johannes.
Catholicon.
[Strasbourg, The R-Printer (Adolf Rusch), not after 1475.]
Folio, ff. [399]; [a]9 [b–h]10 [i–m]10/8 [n]8 [o–q]10 [r–y]10/10/8 [z]8 [A–H]10 [I]8 [K–L]10 [M]12 [N]8 [O–R]10 [S]8 [T]6, without the initial blank [a]1; gothic letter, two 10-line initials in red and blue with penwork decoration ([a]1r and [g]8r), two smaller decorated initials, further red Lombard initials throughout (2-, 3-, and 7-line), some red underlining and initial strokes, red headlines to several leaves, traces of index tabs; first and last few leaves lightly soiled with a few small stains, a few neat marginal repairs (to [a]2–3, [l]2, [x]2 [O]4, [T]6), minor dampstaining to lower margins of a few early leaves, otherwise an excellent, wide-margined copy; bound in nineteenth-century brown morocco over wooden boards by John Clarke (remains of ticket to front free endpaper verso), spine gilt in compartments and lettered directly in gilt, edges gilt, marbled endpapers; a few scuffs neatly retouched; armorial bookplate of John Vertue (1826–1900) to front pastedown, purple ink stamp of Stonyhurst College on first leaf.
Third edition of the earliest printed lexicon, a monumental piece of printing from one of the earliest presses in Strasbourg, containing the thirteenth-century Latin dictionary and grammar of Johannes Balbus, the ‘greatest of the medieval encyclopaedic dictionaries’ (Chamberlin, p. 136); his was the first text chosen to be printed following the Gutenberg Bible.
The author, a Dominican from Genoa, finished writing this massive work in 1286. The text is based on the works of both classical and medieval grammarians, as well as theologians and Church Fathers, and contains a substantial alphabetical glossary with an etymological focus; this strict alphabetical order provided a standard for the development of lexicography. It maintained its popularity into the sixteenth century, despite the negative views of humanist scholars such as Lorenzo Valla and Erasmus.
Balbus is identified as the author of the Catholicon under the entry for Ianua (covering both doors and the town of Genoa): ‘The compiler of the present little book, entitled Prosodia vel Catholicon, originated from this city. In fact, the compiler is said to be Fr. Iohannes de Balbis of Genoa, of the Dominican Order’ (trans.).
The first edition was famously produced in Mainz, plausibly by Gutenberg himself (Paul Needham has identified three issues of this first edition, dating from 1460 to c. 1472), then in Augsburg in 1469 by Günther Zainer; this third edition was printed in Strasbourg, probably by Adolf Rusch, the son-in-law of Johann Mentelin, who had worked with Gutenberg in Mainz. Adolf Rusch, known as the ‘R-Printer’ for his ‘bizarre’ capital Rs, also printed another edition around this time, with 372 leaves instead of 400, which is now dated to around 1475–1477. Rusch is recorded in the voluminous correspondence of the Basel printer Johann Amerbach, commenting on the daily frustrations of printing and the financial complexities and negotiations involved in the production and supply of books.
Goff B22; HC 2253; ISTC ib00022000. See Chamberlin, Medieval Arts Doctrines on Ambiguity (2000), p. 136.
