THE SYSTON PARK COPY
EUSEBIUS CAESARIENSIS; RUFINUS AQUILEIENSIS, translator.
Historia ecclesiastica.
Rome, Johannes Philippus de Lignamine, 15 May 1476.
Folio, ff. [215] (of 220); [a]9 [b–c]10 [d]6 [e–m]10 [n]12 [o]10 [p]8 [q–y]10 (lacking preliminary blank [a]1, and bifolia [d]2.9 and [d]5.6); roman type, initial spaces, fallen type on [P]3; title leaf washed with erased inscription to head, erased inscription to foot of [f]10 resulting in a repaired tear, final leaf somewhat worn, light dampstaining in quire [q], a few wormholes to first and last few leaves, but a good, clean copy; bound in nineteenth-century tan morocco (probably by Ridge or Storr of Grantham) with decorative border tooled in gilt and blind, spine gilt in compartments with wide flat bands, edges gilt; binding a little rubbed, small paper label at foot of upper cover; erased contemporary inscription ‘Fr Felix… ord[in]is p[rae]dicator[um]’ to foot of [f]10; monogrammed bookplate of Sir John Hayford Thorold, Syston Park bookplate to front pastedown, with his pencil note ‘Sykes Sale, Thorpe, Fine Copy’, and an extract from a printed sale catalogue pasted above bookplates (see below); ink stamp of Stonyhurst College to front and rear flyleaves.
The Syston Park copy of the earliest history of the Christian Church, written in the early fourth century; this is probably the third edition. It was translated into Latin in the early fifth century by Rufinus of Aquileia, who extended the text down to the time of Theodosius at the end of the fourth century.
Eusebius (c. 260–339), bishop of Caesarea, was one of the most prominent churchmen of his day. His Ecclesiastical History, which along with his Chronicon initiated the new genre of church history, was written in the early fourth century, and amended over time to reflect the changing political situation, but was completed before the Council of Nicaea took place. He attended the Council in 325 where he supported the Arian position of the Son being subordinate to the Father, though at the end of the Council he signed his agreement to the Nicene position, unlike Arius and several others. After the Council he composed a Life of Constantine (the only eyewitness account of the Council), though it downplays the earlier condemnation of the author because of his Arian views and is somewhat hagiographical in its portrayal of Constantine’s greatness.
The preliminary quire is the variant containing the dedication to Cardinal d’Estouteville rather than Sixtus IV, resulting in the resetting of the whole of the first quire. Cardinal d’Estouteville was a senior figure in the Vatican; at the time of printing he was Dean of the College of Cardinals. Lignamine, the publisher rather than the printer of the works bearing his name, was a courtier at the Papal Curia, using his dedications to facilitate his advancement there.
Provenance: From the celebrated library of Sir John Hayford Thorold (1773–1831) at Syston Park. Thorold purchased many of his books through Thomas Thorpe. Although he wrote ‘Sykes Sale’ on the title-page as the supposed source of the book, this copy was not in the sale of the library of Sir Mark Masterman Sykes held in 1824 by Evans; lot 1220 was a copy of this edition, but it was bought by Payne, not Thorpe, and is now in the Bodleian Library (Bod-inc E-043, also with an earlier Dominican provenance). The book was lot 766 in the Syston Park sale (Sotheby’s, 12–20 December 1884), where it was purchased by Bernard Quaritch for £4-15s.
HC 6710*; BMC IV 34; GW 9436; Goff E126; BSB-Ink E-111; Bod-inc E-043; ISTC ie00126000.
