[Augsburg]: [Günther Zainer], [before June 5, 1473]. First edition. Folio (11 1/16 x 8 inches; 280 x 205 mm.). [76] leaves. Thirty-five lines. Capital spaces. Two- to six-line lombard initials supplied in red ink. Fol. 3/10 a cancel and printed, as usual, on narrow paper, here margined to size at the time of rebinding. Early manuscript notes and publisher's name on top margin of first page in a contemporary hand. A few contemporary ink marginalia. The work is often found bound, in varying combinations, with up to eight shorter tracts printed by Zainer in 1472-73. In this volume, Imitatio Christi is bound first, followed by six Zainer tracts and a further work from a different press.

All books bound together in early nineteenth-century sheep, rebacked with spine laid down. Spine stamped in gilt. Brown morocco spine label, lettered in gilt. All edges speckled red. Boards a bit rubbed and bumped. Some tiny wormholes most prominent in the initial few leaves of the Imitatio Christi, later leaves of the Imitatio Christi without holes, or just a few marginal ones. Other tractates have tiny wormholes throughout. First leaf with corner renewed, but not affecting text. Small page-marker stubs on first leaf of each work. Two previous owner's bookplates on front endpapers. Some manuscript notes to front endpapers, one of which is tipped in and dated 1879. Housed in a custom cloth clamshell. Overall a very clean, Near Fine example.

“The Imitation of Christ is a book of mystical thought which throughout history has appealed to Roman Catholics and Protestants alike. It has been the most widely read devotional manual apart from the Bible, perhaps even surpassing the influence of such books as Pilgrim’s Progress and St Augustine’s Confessiones. This is the more surprising as in the first place it was addressed to monks and recluses. The book is written partly in verse. Its title is derived from that of the first of its four books, ‘De imitatione Christeet contemptu vanitatum mundi’ (‘of the imitation of Christ and the contempt of all worldly vanities’)…

“The Imitation was first printed in 1473. Since then, there have been thousands of editions and translations into fifty languages, a record rivaled only by the Bible itself. The first English translation by William Atkinson and Margaret, Duchess of Beaufort, mother of Henry VII, was published in 1503” (Printing and the Mind of Man). The Imitatio Christi was one of nine theological tracts printed by Günther Zainer in identical format ca. 1472-early 1473 that were available either individually or together with a printed contents leaf. The Imitatio Christi is the most influential document of the devotio moderna, a lay movement advocating the pursuit of a religious life in imitation of Christ, through meditation, instruction, and writing.

Bound with the following works:
i) Pseudo-Augustinus, Aurelius. Soliloquia. Add: Speculum peccatoris. 28 leaves. Goff A1333 + A1337; BSB-Ink A-902; Bod-inc A-602
ii) Hieronymus. De essentia divinitatis. Add: Thomas Aquinas: De articulis fidei. 16 leaves. Goff H179; BSB-Ink E-105; Bod-inc H-95
iii) Nider, Johannes. Dispositorium moriendi. 21 leaves. Goff A1089; BMC II 319 (IB.5547); BSB-Ink N-151; Bod-inc N-75
iv) Processus judiciarius Mascaron contra genus humanum, sive Tractatus procuratoris editus sub nomine diaboli. 10 leaves, with initial blank. Goff P1001; BMC II 318 (IB.5545); BSB-Ink B-211; Bod-inc P-472
v) Gerson, Johannes. Donatus moralisatus. 7 (of 8) leaves, without final blank. Goff G221; BMC II 318 (IB.5546); BSB-Ink G-174; Bod-inc G-142.
vi) Errores Judaeorum ex Talmud extracti. Probationes novi testamenti ex veteri testamento. 12 leaves. Goff E106; BMC II 318 (IB.5544); BSB-Ink T-136; Bod-inc T-70.
vii) Hugo de Sancto Victore. De sacramentis Christianae fidei. Strassburg: [Jordanus de Quedlinburg Press,] 30 July 1485. Book 1 only (of 2): 69 (of 70) leaves, lacking final blank. Goff H535; BMC I 133 (IB.1837); BSB-Ink H-433; Bod-inc H-244.

BMC II, p. 318. Goff I-4. Hain *8589. Harvard/Walsh 507-508. Polain 2050. Printing and the Mind of Man 13. Proctor 1566. Schäfer 331. (Item #8179)