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FLORILEGIUM INSULAE SANCTORUM SEU VITAE ET ACTA SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE.
(Paris: Sebastiani Cramoisy, 1624). 282 x 195 mm. (11 x 7 1/2"). 22 p.l., 441, [1] pp. (lacking blank Ll3 and MMm4). FIRST EDITION.
19th century brown pebble-grain morocco by Clarke & Bedford (stamp-signed on verso of front free endpaper), covers framed by gilt and blind fillets, oblique gilt lancets at corners, raised bands, spine panels with lancet centerpiece, gilt lettering, gilt-ruled turn-ins, all edges gilt (hinges recently reinforced with matching paper). Numerous decorative woodcut initials, botanical woodcut tailpieces, engraved title-page vignette of Saints Columba, Patrick, and Brigid, and a small engraving of each saint in the text by Léonard Gaultier. Front pastedown with morocco bookplates of Henry Huth and of Charles Kalbfleisch. Shaaber M-180; Brunet III, 1673; USTC 6002559. Joints and extremities a bit rubbed (but the wear nicely hidden with dye), text apparently washed and pressed (in keeping with bibliophilic fashion at the time of binding), isolated trivial foxing, but still an excellent copy, clean and crisp internally, and in a sturdy binding.
This is the Huth - Kalbfleisch copy of an uncommonly seen account of the lives of Irish saints. Our author, Thomas Messingham (ca. 1577 - ca. 1638), was a secular priest who served as rector of the Irish College in Paris and later as dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. "Florilegium Insulae Sanctorum," his major work, is primarily made up of the hagiographies of Saints Columba, Patrick, and Brigid, with the lives of the lesser Irish saints and sermons composing the last few chapters. Although Messingham was more a compiler than a writer of original history, the present work is of special value because it preserves sources that are now otherwise lost to us. Our copy has resided in two distinguished libraries. Former owner Henry Huth (1815-78) collected a wide range of materials, always insisting that a book be in outstanding condition. The Huth sales, conducted for a decade beginning in 1911, constituted one of the major stories in the history of the English auction rooms (this copy was lot number 4948, selling on July 6, 1916, for the substantial amount of £8). Afterwards, the volume was in the collection of the eminent American collector Charles C. Kalbfleisch (1868-1943), who was particularly interested in fine bindings and early printing, and whose books are known for their consistently fine state of preservation. In a sale entitled "The Arts of the Book . . . the Splendid Library Formed by the Late Charles C. Kalbfleisch, New York," Parke-Bernet sold much of his collection in January of 1944 (the present item was lot 630, selling for a wartime-depressed $25). (ST20829)
Price: $6,000.00