First and Only Incunable Edition
PFEFFER DE WYDENBERG, Johannes.
[Directorium sacerdotale.] [Basel, Johann Besicken, after 20 December 1482.]
Chancery folio, ff. [104]; *6 A10 B–F8 G–H6 I–L8 M–N6; gothic letter, double column; a few small stains to *1r (blank) with two small chips at fore-edge, 3 small wormholes to first leaves, occasional light foxing, nonetheless a very good copy; eighteenth-century dark red sheep, spine gilt in compartments and lettered directly in gilt, edges speckled red, marbled endpapers; a few small stains and scuffs, neat repairs at extremities; old ink inscription washed from head of A1, a few early annotations (washed but still legible), nineteenth-century armorial bookplates of John Peacock and of John Vertue, Bishop of Portsmouth (1826–1900) to front pastedown.
First and only incunable edition, very rare, of a guide for priests written by the first theology professor at the University of Freiburg, provided with a helpful system for locating passages in the text.
Johannes Pfeffer (1415–1493), of Weidenburg, studied in Heidelberg before becoming the first professor of theology at the University of Freiburg in 1460. This guide for priests was based on his lectures regarding the epistles of Paul to Timothy and Titus; it is one of only two works of his to be printed (the other being a treatise on indulgences). The terminus post quem for the printing is provided by the date of completion at the end of the text, which is given as 20 December 1482.
The text is printed with useful marginal numbering to indicate the sections in the text; the book opens with a list of the thirteen parts followed by an alphabetical index of topics, where the section number within each part is indicated with the symbol §.
This is one of the first books printed by Johann Besicken; he only produced a handful of books in Basel (including both of Johannes Pfeffer’s, both undated) and broadsides, including some by Archbishop Andreas von Krain calling for reform against papal abuses such as nepotism. Besicken later moved to Rome where he printed books (and indulgences) in association with Sigismundus Mayr and others.
ISTC lists only two copies in the US (Bryn Mawr, Huntington) and three in the UK (BL, Bodley, Brotherton).
HR 12862; BMC III 760; GW M32794; Goff P540; Bod-inc P-237; ISTC ip00540000.