JUSTINIANUS, Laurentius — Opera Omnia — Cologne 1675 — Wexford Franciscan Provenance

JUSTINIANUS, Laurentius [Lawrence Giustiniani / Lorenzo Giustiniani]. Divi Laurentii Justiniani Protopatriarchae Veneti Opera Omnia: nunc recens post omnes alias editiones, & numero marginum multo quam prius locupletata, & innumeris pene locis vigilantiori cura, & diligentia recognita, atque emendata. Cologne [Coloniae Agrippinae]: apud Joannem Wilhelmum Friessem, 1675.

A substantial seventeenth-century folio edition of the collected works of Saint Lawrence Justinian (1381–1456), the Venetian ecclesiastic, devotional writer and first Patriarch of Venice, preserved in an attractive contemporary or near-contemporary full calf binding and carrying unusually interesting Irish Franciscan provenance.

Printed in Latin, the volume contains Justinian's extensive corpus of theological and devotional writings, together with the Tractatus de Incendio Divini Amoris. The elaborate title page is printed in red and black above a large engraved emblematic vignette. Although issued at Cologne by Johann Wilhelm Friessem in 1675, the volume concludes with the earlier printing statement: Coloniae excudebat Arnoldus Quentelius, anno M.DC.XVI. The retention of the 1616 Arnold Quentel colophon in the 1675 Friessem edition provides an interesting bibliographical feature of the issue.

Provenance

The title page bears an ink institutional inscription: “Bibliothecae Antonianae Conventus Wexfordiensis … FF. Min.” identifying the volume with the library of St Anthony’s Franciscan Convent at Wexford and the Friars Minor.

Alongside this appears the ink signature “R. F. Walsh.” This is apparently the signature of Richard Francis Walsh O.F.M., an important figure in the history of the Irish Franciscan libraries. UCD records that Walsh acquired many books from the former Irish Franciscan College of St Anthony at Louvain from its last guardian, James Cowan, inscribed his own name in them, and succeeded in bringing them back to the Franciscan library at Wexford. Walsh’s distinctive signature is noted throughout the surviving collection.

A front leaf carries later pencilled annotations “duplicate” and “£275.”

The rear flyleaf is separately inscribed: “Joe McDonnell 25/4/1993.” This may be the noted Irish bookbinding scholar Joseph McDonnell, co-author of Gold-tooled Bookbindings Commissioned by Trinity College Dublin in the Eighteenth Century (1987) and author of Five Hundred Years of the Art of the Book in Ireland (1997). The identification has not yet been independently confirmed.

Taken together, the inscriptions document the book’s long association with an important Irish Franciscan institutional library and its survival into modern private ownership, with the possibility of an earlier connection to the dispersed library of the Irish Franciscan College at Louvain.

Condition

Contemporary or near-contemporary full calf over boards; blind-ruled panel decoration to covers; five raised bands; gilt floral and foliate spine compartments; gilt-lettered morocco title label. The binding shows extensive age-related rubbing, abrasion and areas of surface loss, particularly to the boards and extremities. Leather worn at joints, bands and corners, with some scuffing, but retaining considerable decorative character. 

Title page with a deliberately excised horizontal strip, approximately 5–10 mm high, extending across the full width of the leaf and resulting in loss of portions of the printed text. The removal appears intentional rather than accidental; its purpose is unknown. Further handling marks and minor edge wear. Contents with the expected scattered toning, spotting and occasional marks of use. The final index and 1616 Arnold Quentel colophon are present.

Bibliographical Note

Title page: Coloniae Agrippinae: Apud Joannem Wilhelmum Friessem, Anno M.DC.LXXV [1675]. Final leaf retains: Coloniae excudebat Arnoldus Quentelius, Anno M.DC.XVI [1616]. WorldCat records the Friessem edition at Cologne, 1675.