Postilla in Job

First PageFirst Page Item: Incunabula Book
Title: Postilla in Job (Literal Exposition on Job)
Author: Thomas Aquinas

Printer: C. Fyner
Place of Printing: Esslingen
Date of Printing: 1474
Format: Folio
Language: Latin
Incipit: Postilla fratis thome de Aquino In job feliciter incipie
Reference: Hain x1397 (w/o index); BM Cat. II p. 513; Stillwell T213; Pellechet 1001

Biography of Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274) was one of the chief theological philosophers of the Catholic Church. He was a member of the Dominican order who received his Doctor of Theology and who preached, taught and wrote commentary on the Bible. His most important work was “Summa Theologica.”

Postilla in Job

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This is a line-by-line commentary on the book of Job. Thomas Aquinas looks at divine providence and its effect on the life of man. Man does not have the intellect to understand all that God does. Aquinas uses the writings of the Church Doctors, the scriptures, and the writings of Aristotle to explain what happens to Job. But whatever God’s plan, God does not feel it necessary to aware virtue with early rewards or punish vices with early punishments.

Our Copy

Explicit (detail)Explicit (detail)Red Capital (detail)Red Capital (detail)

Our book has approximately 103 leaves. There are 42 lines of print in one column. The type is Gothic. There are no catchwords or pagination. Initials are in red and there are also paragraph marks and capitals in red. There are some wormholes near the end of the volume. The explicit contains the following information:

“Explicit postilla in job fratris thome de aquino Anno Millesimoquadringentesimoseptuagesimoqrto per di: scretum Conradum fyner gerhuszen artis impzessozie magistrum.”

There is an elaborate letter “A” with cadel on the flyleaf of the book.

Conrad Fyner

Calligraphy
on Flyleaf
Calligraphy<br />on Flyleaf
Red Capital
(detail)
Red Capital<br />(detail)

Conrad Fyner of Gerhausen Germany probably served an apprenticeship in Strassburg before beginning his printing business in Esslingen in 1472. He is credited with being the first printer to depict actual musical notes in print in “Collectorium Super Magnificat” in 1473. Fyner also printed a book containing the first Hebrew type in an anti-Jewish book “P. Niger Contra Perfidos Judeos” in 1475. He printed over forty books in Esslingen before moving to Urach in 1481 where he continued his printing business.

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