Marchesinus 1470

MARCHESINUS, Johannes (13th century).
Mammotrectus super Bibliam.
Mainz: Peter Schoeffer, 10 November 1470. (06457)

This is the first of twenty-three editions of this work printed during the fifteenth century. Compiled by a thirteenth-century Franciscan at Reggio, near Modena, the Mammotrectus is a manual for the unlettered clergy with short entries explaining difficult terms and concepts encountered in the Bible. The title refers to the “maternal milk,” or nourishment, offered by this text. Its early popularity did not survive the Reformation; already in 1515 Erasmus of Rotterdam had criticized those priests who still depended upon the Mammotrectus.

Bridwell Library’s copy, purchased in 1964, was the first book printed by Schoeffer to enter its collection. It preserves a contemporary Austrian blind-tooled deerskin binding with two leather straps and brass clasps that hook onto pegs set into the upper cover.