ARS MORIENDI Speculu(m) artis bene moriendi de... Lot 47

[ARS MORIENDI] Speculu(m) artis bene moriendi de temptationib(us) penis infernalib(us) interrogationib(us) agonisantiu(m). et varijs o(rati)onibus pro illo(que) salute faciendis. Cologne: Heinrich Quentel, ca. 1493]. - In-4, 209 x 145: (16 ff.) [A6 B4 C6]; car. goth. 36 lines. Bound in a 19th century marbled paper cover in an old brown half calf binding. Pellechet, 1338. - BMC, I, 282. - Hain, 14912. A true success of the devotional literature of the Middle Ages, Ars moriendi (Art of Dying Well), was widely distributed in manuscript form before being printed many times in the 15th and 16th centuries . The Ars moriendi first appeared in Germany, first in a long version in 1415, entitled Tractatus artis bene moriendi, commissioned from an anonymous Dominican monk, presumably at the Council of Constance, and then in a shorter version in the Netherlands in 1450. The second chapter of the early text describes five temptations facing man in the face of death and the means of resisting them. The 1450 version is essentially an adaptation of this second chapter. The present edition was printed in Cologne by Henrich Quentel (14..-1501) in the 1490's. Under the title is a woodcut depicting a master and two disciples. Pellechet cites two editions printed by Henrich Quentel, giving the first one the first appearance, printed around 1493-1496; the second one appeared around 1498, a copy placed in a very modest old half-binder, held inside with self-adhesive craft paper . Trace of an old bookmark on the first page. Inside edge of the title glued to the cover. Old note in ink on the title concerning the identity of the printer: "N. Haec figura sequenti etiam operi ab Henrico Quentell Coloniæ impresso, praefixa est. "Some rare annotations in the margins. Provenance: Jean-Baptiste Colbert de Beaulieu, with ex-libris.