CASSIODORUS, Magnus Aurelius (ca. 480-ca. 583). Historia ecclesiastica tripartita. [Augsburg]: Johann Schüssler, ‘circiter’ 5 February 1472.

Super–chancery 2° (308 x 210mm). Collation: [112 2-910 106 1110(10+1) 12-1910 204] (1/1 blank, 1/2r text, 20/4r colophon, 20/4v, 20/5-6 blank). 193 leaves. 35 lines. Type: 1:117G. Two- to 7- line initial spaces with manuscript guide-letters. Many pinholes visible. (Three minor wormholes at end.) English 19th-century calf gilt, red edges, by Mackenzie & Son (minor rubbing and scuffing). Provenance: Brother Caspar Holck, purchase inscription dated 1473, title in an early hand on first leaf.

FIRST EDITION of the principal guide to the history of the Christian Church from the Council of Nicaea (325) to 439. The text consists of extracts from the ecclesiastical histories by Theodoret, Sozomen and Socrates. Cassiodorus, one of the most important figures of the 6th century, served as an official in the Ostrogothic kingdom of Theodoric before retiring to the monastery of Vivarium, which he founded in southern Italy. In Vivarium he proposed a programme of secular and religious studies in his Institutiones divinarum saecularium litterarum, which greatly influenced educational practice in the Middle Ages. The printer, Johann Schüssler, worked as a scribe and bookbinder before he learned his new trade with Johann Mentelin at Strassburg. He printed only 13 known titles, all using a single typeface. HC *4573; GW 6164; BMC II, 329 (IB. 5627); BSB-Ink. C-169; CIBN C-131; Bod-inc C-106; Goff C-237.

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