Two early Spanish prints by Miguel de Eguía of writings by Saint Bonaventure, 1529 and 1525

BONAVENTURA: (1) ESTIMULO DE AMOR DE SANT BUĒAUĒTURA. NUEUAMĒTE IMP̄SSO & CORREGIDO. (2) SOLILO[QI]UO: DE SANT BUENAUENTURA. (1) Logroño: En casa de Miguel de Eguía, 29th Nov. 1529. (2) Alcalá de Henares: por Miguel de [E]Guia, 12th Dec. 1525.

4to. (1) 99 leaves [I (title, toc)], II-XCVII; [2 nn ll. (toc.)] Sign.: a-m(⁸), niii; (2) [49 leaves] Sign.: a-e(⁸), f(6), giii. Contemporary vellum with calligraphic title on spine („Estimulo de Amor“) and red head, tail and fore-edge.

2 exceedingly rare early Spanish prints by Miguel de Eguía of writings by Saint Bonaventure.

Author, Content: Present volume contains early Spanish translations of (1) the »Stimulus Amoris« (13th ct., The String of Love) and (2) the »Soliloquium de quatuor mentalibus exercitiis« (1259/60, Soliloquy [i.e. monologue] About the Four Spiritual Exercises), two devotional works written by or in case of (1) attributed to Saint Bonaventure, [i.e. Giovanni Fidanza, 1221-74], a Cardinal and head of the Minor friars, who became one of the most influential theologians and philosophers of the medieval ages.

Printer: Both volumes of present Sammelband were printed in the print shops of Miguel de Eguía (1495-1546) in Logroño and Alcalá, one of the foremost and progressive Spanish printers of his time, a publisher of Eramus. Eguía's prints are known for their distinctive type setting in puristic gothic and round typefaces, their illustrative and ornamental wood-cut initials of an artistic nature (of which 4 and 8 resp. are set here), the use of red and black inks and the good quality of the paper. Moreover Eguía was famous for renewing Spanish printing by using Renaissance-style architectural borders. Present wood-cut title-pages are a good examples: »Estimulo de Amor« consists of a central typographic title printing with a from of emblematic illustrations combined with floral ornaments, »Soliloquio« additionally incorporates a portrait of the reading Bonaventure.

Condition: (1) Fragments of partly erased former owner's remarks as well as of erased owner's stamp on l. ai; (2) Leave g4 (printer's blank) missing; pp. aiiir, a(6)v, br, biiiv, c(7)r, e(5)r, f(3)r and f(5) with very few underlinings and marginal notes. Some leaves with slight foxing and little water stains at margins.

Rarity, Holdings: Although incunables and early prints of Bonaventure's works in the original Latin and in translation, as well as prints by the Spanish master Eguía are frequently traded at auction, no auction results at all are available for present editions, according to RBH and JBP/JAP/APO.

As of August 6th 2022 USTC, OCLC/WorldCat, KVK and viaLibri Library Search locate only 6 holdings in institutional holdings worldwide for (1), at Barcelona (Bibl. de Catalunya, missing title leave, Prov: Bibl. Marès), Evora (Bibl. Publica), Lisboa (BNP), Madrid (BNE), Oviedo (UL), València (UL) and London (BL), i.e. the only copy outside the Iberian peninsula. Only 5 copies are known for (2), at Barcelona (CRAI), Madrid (BNE [2 copies], Bibl. Islámica) and Sevilla (Bibl. Capitular Y Colombina), with no copy outside spain.

Reference: (1) USTC, no. 335139; CCPB 119730-4; BCMarès I 161; BLC 37, 64; Heredia 3928; Salva 3863; Palau 290249; Porbase 224252; Wilkinson (Iberian Books) 2110. – (2) USTC, no. 335148; CCBE S. XVI, B, 2722; García 74; Martín Abad 147; Palau 290228; Wilkinson (Iberian Books) 2106. – De la Fuente Arranz, Fernando: "Miguel de Eguía." Diccionario Biográfico Español, on-line. URL: https://dbe.rah.es/biografias/49363/miguel-de-eguia. 7th August 2022.