1493 – Aristotle Metaphysics by Saint Thomas Aquinas | Incunabula Commentary

Interpretatio in Metaphysicam Aristotelis is a rare 15th-century edition of Saint Thomas Aquinas’s commentary on Aristotle’s famous Metaphysics. Metaphysica, the foundational work on the study of metaphysics, uncovers the secrets to cause and effect, existence and origins of all things, and occurrence of mathematics in practical world occasions.

Aquinas and Aristotle works published in the 15th-century are considered some of the most desirable incunable printings and to have both authors featured in one tome is of the utmost rarity. However, the most noteworthy aspect of this particular example is that it is entirely complete in all aspects from the initial title through the final leaf with the printer’s device (corroborated with the ISTC).

Bibliographic Details

• Title: [Interpretatio in Metaphysicam Aristotelis]… Commentaria sancti Thome super libros methaphysice
• Author(s): Saint Thomas Aquinas
• Illustrator(s):
• Contributor(s): Aristotle (Author of Metaphysics)
• Publisher: Venice: Simon Bevilaqua, for Alexander Calcedonius
• Edition: 2^nd overall edition, 1493 – First Bevilaqua edition
• Format: Folio (single volume)
• Binding: Vellum
• Size:  12in x 9in (31cm x 23cm)
• Collation: [308] unpaginated leaves
• Illustrations: Printer’s device on final leaf
• Contents Include:
  • Commentaria super libros Metaphysicae Aristotelis
  • Full text of Aquinas’s scholastic commentary
  • Final page with printer’s mark
• Reference(s): ISTC it00246000; GW M46202; Goff T246; HC 1509; Proctor 5383

Condition:

Very Good. Original full vellum with secure text block. Pages considerably clean for a book of this age. Woodcuts free of foxing. Some staining on cover.

Why Collect This?

• Rare 15th-century commentary edition printed in Venice
• Complete with final leaf and printer’s device
• Appealing to collectors of theology, metaphysics, and incunabula

Item Number: #29071