De civitate Dei (City of God)

De civitate Dei (City of God)

This copy of Saint Augustine’s City of God is an example of the involvement of traditional illuminators with the new technology of printing. This third edition copy was printed in Italy by the German printers Conradus Sweynheym and Arnoldus Pannartz. The two business partners were the first to establish a press outside of German-speaking lands, and by 1467, they had moved in search of greater economic opportunities to Rome, where the present volume was printed. Adapting to their translapine audience, Sweynheym and Pannartz abandoned the Gothic typeface used in Northern Europe, developing a semi-Roman type, followed by a fully Roman version, upon their move to the papal city. Most remarkably, this incunable’s secondary decoration was added not in Italy, but in France. The figures in the illuminated initials in particular are attributed to the workshop of François Le Barbier in the later part of the fifteenth century.

Author: Saint Augustine; Printers: Conradus Sweynheym and Arnoldus Pannartz, 1470 (Goff A-1232; ISTC ia01232000); Illuminator: follower of François Le Barbier

1470

Illuminated book printed on paper, 294 fols.

University of Pennsylvania, Folio Inc A-1232

Rome, Italy