Catalogus illustrium virorum - photo 1
Catalogus illustrium virorum - photo 2

Catalogus illustrium virorum

Lot 59
28.01.2025 10:00UTC -05:00
Classic
Sold
$ 30 240
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUSA, New York
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Archive
ID 1360775
Lot 59 | Catalogus illustrium virorum
Estimate value
$ 20 000 – 30 000
TRITHEMIUS, Johannes (1462–1516). Catalogus illustrium virorum. [Mainz: Peter von Friedberg, after 14 August 1495].

First edition of an important early work on bibliography, the first bibliography of German authors and a vital trove of medieval scholarship. Trithemius was greatly interested in how to present information using the nascent print technologies developed during the expansion of book production across the German Humanist era. Making early contributions to encryption, bibliography and various other fields, Trithemius created his Catalogue of Illustrious Men as a repository for the authors that he encountered throughout his life in fifteenth-century Germany. Trithemius’ work as a collector and collator was crucial for preserving centuries of medieval scholarship and elevating Continental scholars to a place of recognition and consideration across Europe. The catalogue is similar to his Liber de Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis but includes non-ecclesiasts from across various fields including medicine and other sciences, such as Hartmann Schedel and Regiomontanus. One example is Otfrid von Weissenburg, whose multidisciplinary writings, having been largely forgotten by the end of the 10th century, receive their first reference in print in Trithemius’ Catalogus. On pp. 7v–8r of this edition, Trithemius writes of von Weissenburg: ‘Mirabile tamen est et lectione dignum quicquid vir iste composuit’ (Remarkable is everything that this man writes, and worth reading). Trithemius includes himself in his catalogue though his name is absent in the edition's index, but an early reader has corrected this copy by adding Trithemius to the list of illustrious men. H *15615; Bod-Inc T-240; Goff T-433; Klebs 991.1; ISTC it00433000.

Chancery quarto (207 × 133mm). 88 leaves (gathering O with Wimpfeling letter bound between F and G]) Printed in red and black. Initials and capital strokes in red (last leaf of table rehinged, a few areas of offsetting from red initials, small wormtracks in lower margin). 19th-century blue speckled paper boards, blue edges (rubbed at extremities). Provenance: a few early marginal comments, including an addition of Trithemius to the index of illustrious men – Oswald Seilern Aspang (sale, Christie's, 26 March 2003, lot 206; bookplate).
Place of origin:Germany
Auction house category:Antiquarian books, Medicine & science, Printed books
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
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