Paris (Antoine Vérard or Pierre Levet), 1488.
Small folio [283 x 205 mm] of 322 leaves, with two columns, 38 lines per page (12 ll. of table, 208 ll., 86 ll., 5 ll. of table, and the last one bl.). Tear without loss to ll. xxxvii, clvii.
Blind-stamped calf, central copper boss and four corner bosses, original ties, formerly rebacked. Contemporary binding.
First Parisian edition printed by Antoine Vérard in 1488, very rare, of this judicial incunable codifying the medieval customs.
References : Marcel Jeanson, n° 88; GW 4969; HC 3690; BMC VIII, 96; Goff B. 1053; Pell 2792; Claudin I, 437-438; Brunet, I, 1186.
Numerous rural subjects are discussed such as hunting, fishing, selling lands, inheritances…
This collection is of a peculiar interest due to its analysis of customs for the Artois, the county of Hainaut and the Flanders.
Incunable work highly valued for his obvious judiciary and juridical contribution.
The Somme rurale also abounds in precise notes about the various states of society, the royal authority and the crimes.
Early incunable editions of this precious work are extremely rare.
Only five copies of the first edition, printed in Bruges in 1479 are recorded, including one in America.
Goff only mentions 2 copies of the Abbeville’s edition from 1486.
Claudin, Proctor and GW attribute the printing of this third edition, dated 1488, to Pierre Levet’s presses while BMC mentions Antoine Vérard’s name.
This incunable edition is highly rare: Goff only mentions one copy among American libraries.
An exceptional very wide-margined copy rubricated in red ink, preserved in a contemporary decorated blind-stamped calf binding with original copper bosses with its original tie and bearing contemporary handwritten notes.
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