An early French-gothic edition of this series of fifteen meditations on the moments of suffering in the life of Christ, by the Franciscan divine Philip of Aquila. Each effusion is illustrated with a tiny, well-executed woodcut, two of which are signed "G.M.," which is unlikely to have been the libraire Guillaume Merlin, but we can't say it wasn't. Not much is known of Philip, but according to the Annals of the Friars Minor, he first uttered his Quinze effusions about 1496. Philip's fifteen meditations follow to a degree St. Bridget's fifteen daily prayers, which she composed in 1376 to redeem Christ's 5480 sufferings. Like St. Bridget, Philip openly blames Jews for some of Christ's suffering, though goes further than Bridget had: his effusions III-IV, XI, and XII assert, without biblical authority, that Christ suffered at the hands of Jewish felons. Many 16th-century editions of our text are known (Pettegree counts 50, all but four printed after 1550), the earliest of which is about 1524. Most survive in single exemplars. The text was frequently appended to books of Hours after about 1550, and is often found removed; these fragments are usually a single octavo gathering signed "C." The printer of our edition has not been determined, but the book was sold at the Pont au Change premises of Guillaume Merlin, bookseller to the University of Paris from 1538-1558. According to Renouard, Merlin was never known to have worked as a printer, even though he was a qualified typographus. Bechtel cites a Merlin edition with a title identical to ours, but with differences in the orthography of the colophon, which he dates to 1570; this is not likely, since Merlin had moved premises in 1558. We can confidently date our edition, printed in a handsome textura, to between 1538 and 1558. An unrecorded edition of a bestselling work of pious devotion based on the Passion, illustrated with fifteen small, detailed woodcuts.

Full title: ¶Senſuyuēt les quinze effuſions de ſang | se noſtre Saulueur et Redempteur Jeſus | Chriſt/ que toutes persſonnes doiuent dire | deuotement: diſant auec chacune des orai- | ſons Pater noſter/ et Aue Maria. Il y a grās | pardons a les dire vn an durant. [Colophon, A8v]: ¶Cy finit les quinze effuſions de ſang de | noſtre Saulueur et Redempteur Jeſus | Chriſt/ Imprimee pour Guillaume Merlin/ marchant Libraire iure en | luniuerſite de Paris/ demourant | audict lieu/ſur le pōt au Chāge/ | a lenſeigne de lhōme Sau- | uage/ deuant Lorloge | du Palays.

Paris: Guillaume Merlin, 1538-1558.

Octavo, 156 x 102 x 5 mm (binding), 153 x 99 x 2 mm (text block); A⁸, [8] ff. Nineteenth-century calf over marbled boards by N. Marlière, with their stamped signature to head of verso of first free end; titled in second compartment on black sheepskin-skiver lettering-piece in gilt: XV | EFFU- | SI- | ONS. Wear to covers, lettering-piece chipped. Interior: A restored copy: tail fore-corners of all eight leaves damaged, text affected but legibility not compromised; each leaf competently restored by leafcasting and infills.

Item #277