Justinianus, 23 May 1476

JUSTINIANUS (483–565). Institutiones, with commentary by Franciscus Accursius. Mainz: Peter Schoeffer, 23 May 1476.

The Wodhull copy of Schoeffer’s edition of Justinian’s foundational work on Roman law. Justinian wrote the Institutiones as the third part of his codification of Roman law in a period when Europe was reckoning with the legacy of the Western Roman Empire. The collected Corpus Juris Civilis is perhaps the greatest monument of Justinian’s reign, with the Institutiones designed as a guide to the complexities of Roman law, thus serving as a foundational text in the canon of Western jurisprudence. HC *9498; BMC I 33; BSB-Ink C-633; Bod-inc J-233; CIBN C-601; GW 7590; Goff J-512; ISTC ij00512000.

Folio (400 × 276mm). 103 leaves. Printed in red and black. Blue and red penwork initials and rubrication, running headlines in red and blue, some flourished decoration on first leaf. Schoeffer’s woodcut device on final leaf (a little bit dust-soiled, with some fading to painted initials). 18th-century red morocco gilt attributed to Derôme, edges gilt, some manuscript signatures retained (a little wear at edges); modern box. Provenance: [Cardinal Loménie de Brienne (1727–1794; note mentioning its acquisition from Loménie; Laire, Index librorum, 25, though with different price than note and not in the Loménie sale catalogue of March 1792)] – Michael Wodhull (1740–1816; manuscript purchase note on flyleaf dated 18 June 1792 priced at £22.58) – Michael Tomkinson (1841–1921, bookplate; his sale, Sotheby’s, 5 July 1992, lot 1579, description tipped in; bookplate) – Albert May Todd (1850–1931, bookplate; his sale, Parke-Bernet, 12 November 1941, lot 523).