THOMAS AQUINAS (c.1225-1274) - photo 1
THOMAS AQUINAS (c.1225-1274) - photo 2
THOMAS AQUINAS (c.1225-1274) - photo 3

THOMAS AQUINAS (c.1225-1274)

Lot 60
09.07.2025 10:30UTC +01:00
Classic
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CHRISTIE'S
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1449849
Lot 60 | THOMAS AQUINAS (c.1225-1274)
Estimate value
£ 18 000 – 25 000
THOMAS AQUINAS (c.1225-1274)
Summa theologiae. Basel: [Michael Wenssler,] 1485.
Very rare first complete edition of Aquinas' Summa, with all three parts. Its three main sections were previously printed separately in various editions, but the present edition by Wenssler is the first appearance of the complete text together. Most often encountered in volumes containing only one or two of those original parts, the present volume is a rare example of a near-complete specimen of the most important book of the European Middle Ages, retaining many original material features such as pink leather index tabs.

All the many writings of Saint Thomas Aquinas are preparatory to the great Summa, which was begun in 1265 and aimed at being the sum of all knowledge. Structured around the scholastic practice of disputatio, the Summa consists of a series of theological questions, followed by arguments pro and contra which explicate Aquinas’ doctrinal views on every issue. Combining authority and argument, Thomas brought his distinctive philosophical outlook to bear on Christian religion, integrating the newly translated works of Aristotle alongside previously developed Platonist conceptions of being and intellect. Art historian Erwin Panofsky famously compared the Summa to a Gothic cathedral, both of which embody ‘the whole of Christian knowledge, theological, moral, natural, and historical, with everything in its place and that which no longer found its place suppressed’ and are arranged ‘according to a system of homologous parts and parts of parts. Goff T-194; HC 1434*; Bod-inc T-163; BMC III 729; BSB-Ink T-278; ISTC it00194000.

Four parts in one, royal folio (384 x 290mm). I: 176 leaves; II.1: 162 leaves [of 164, without initial and final blanks]; II.2: 241 leaves [of 242, without initial blank]; III: 157 leaves [of 159, lacking index leaf Uu5 and without initial blank]. Red Lombard initials, some passages with red capital strokes and underlining (dampstaining around edges, a few leaves with abrasions or chips in blank margins, closed tear into text in L8 of part 2, some toning). Modern blind-ruled calf, retaining contemporary vellum pastedowns and flyleaves, manuscript fore-edge title, pink leather index tabs. Provenance: occasional neat marginal annotations and manicules, with two letters flourished in the same ink – Gervinus Woringens, vicar of Stolberg (ownership inscription, 5 May 1645) – purchased from his nephew on 3 October 1687 by Carolus Brewer (dean and canon of the monastery of SS. Chrysanthus and Daria in Münstereifel) – Johann Joseph Helden, vicar of Neukirchen (ownership inscription, 5 October 1808).
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
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09.07.2025 – 09.07.2025
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