Bidspirit auction | [HISTORY] - GREGORIUS I (540

[HISTORY] - GREGORIUS I (540 - 604) - A Scarce Legendary. By The First Press In The Low Countries. 15 Complete Copies Known, Not In Us Libraries - Gregorius I. Dialogorum libri quattuor. [Louvain:] Johannes de Westfalia, [c.1484]. 4to (209 x 145mm), 19th-century half sheep over marbled boards, ff. 130. Gothic type 1D:89/90G, 30 lines. Signature: a–p⁸q¹⁰. Very Rare Edition Of Gregory’s Dialogues, Published By The First Press In The Low Countries. Pope Gregory I’s wildly popular Dialogues recount the lives and miracles of the early saints: a genre which would reach its culmination with the Golden Legend. Book II is devoted to the life of Saint Benedict, providing the most important early source for the life of the father of Christian monasticism in Western Europe. The printer, Johann von Westfalia, came to Louvain in 1474 where he printed mostly textbooks for the local university. Condition: inner margins of a few bifolia repaired, some marginal dampstaining, repaired closed tear in blank lower area of final leaf. Provenance: 1. Early marginalia on several leaves 2. Bookplate Georg Kloss, (his sale, lot 1870). Georg Franz Burkhard Kloss (1787-1854) was a German historian of freemasonry. Kloss was the son of a physician and studied medicine at Heidelberg and Göttingen, where he became one of the cofounders of the Corps Hannovera Göttingen. He practiced medicine in Frankfurt. He became a book collector, and gathered a fine collection of old manuscripts, purchasing entire libraries of monasteries. Obtaining Masonic degrees, he started collecting books referring to freemasonry. His extensive library of Masonic works is now at The Hague (Cultureel Maçonniek Centrum ‘Prins Frederik’). 3. Hyatt Sale (1838), sold to: Lewis H. Machen (pencil note). Lewis Henry Machen (1790-1863) was a Senate clerk and Virginia farmer. He is credited with removing archives of the Senate before the British advance on Washington in 1814. Machen supported the Whigs and was critical of Andrew Jackson during the presidential election of 1828, and he wrote several anti-Jackson articles that were published in the “National Intelligencer”, In 1843, Machen purchased a farm in Fairfax County, Virginia named “Walney” Machen and his family left the farm during the Civil War to reside in Baltimore, MD. 4. Elizabeth Machen Palmer (1926-2008, inventory listing). The Lewis H. Machen Family Papers (5,000 items) relating to personal matters and and national politics prior to the Civil War, especially slavery and the Compromise of 1850, are now in the Manuscript Division of Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. References: Not in Goff (no copies held by American institutions) and BMC. HC 7960; GW 11399; Camp 852; ILC 1114; Pellechet 5351; Elliott-Loose 272; Polain (B) 1697; IDL 2080; IBP 2480; SI 1728; Voulliéme (B) 4925,5; Borm 1182; Coll (S) 476; Oates 3788. ISTC ig00404500: Dated on paper evidence (WILC). Previously dated between 1484/85 and 1487. Census (17): France (5): Amiens BM; Cambrai BM; Douai BM; Lille BM; Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France. Belgium (4): Antwerpen, RG; Leuven, KUL CB (Inc. 231); Leuven, KUL FG Coll. GSM; Namur, Société archéologique. Germany (4): Berlin, Staatsbibliothek; Hamburg GymChristianeum; Lüneburg RatsB; Wolfenbüttel, Herzog August Bibliothek. British Isles (1): Cambridge, University Library (imperfect). The Nederlands (1): The Hague, Royal Library (169 G 7). Poland (1): Gdańsk, Polish Academy of Sciences (imperfect). Sweden (1): Stockholm RL. •⁠> This lot is located in and ships from the UK. No export license is required for values under £65,000; above this threshold, a UK export license will be needed. Import duties and taxes in the destination country are the buyer's responsibility.