Flores.

Folio: [161 (of 162)] ff., 38-39 ll. (incl. blank a1, lacking final blank; some marginal staining, blank top corner e1 repaired, tear in blank bottom margin i3).

Loose in interesting contemp. blind-stamped calf over wood, bevelled edges, covers with blind-ruled rectangular and lozenge-shaped frames with similar sm. stamps (agnus dei, face of Christ, fleur-de-lys, and arma christi), spine with 5 raised bands, mod. endpapers (rebacked spine dam., rubbed, corners def., joints split). Former chain binding. Very good rubricated and wide-margined copy.

Compilation from the writings of the French Cistercian abbot Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153). Printed in 2 col., in gothic type. “In fast allen erhaltenen Exemplaren ist von alter Hand (offenbar in der Druckerei) die Zahl 82 in arabischen Zahlzeichen in der Jahresangabe der Schlusschrift hinzugefügt worden” (GW) - but not in this copy! On lower margins ms. indications for quire composition.
Ref. ISTC ib00389000. - GW 3929. - Goff B-389. - IDL 752. - BSB-Ink G-520 (under Guilelmus de Sancto Martino Tornacensi). - Not in BMC, CIBN, Polain.
Prov. On f. 1v contemp. ownership entry dated "1483" of the Namur Crosiers (Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross). - 19th-c. notes on front endpaper. - "J.F.M. S[terck]", i.e. the Dutch collector and literary historian J.F.M. Sterck (1859-1941) (mod. bookpl.). - [Georges Petit].