Alfonso de Avendaño

Melchior Sessa - dědicové

COMMENTARIA IN PSALMVM CXVIII

Venice, 1587
Format 16°, 14.5 x 9.7 cm. 480 numbered leaves, in Latin. Title page printed in black, with the printer`s device of the Sessa family (a cat with a mouse in its mouth). Initials, headpieces, vignettes. Vellum binding. Published by the heirs of Melchior Sessa in Venice in 1587. This is a monumental Latin commentary by the Spanish Dominican Alfonso de Avendaño on the longest psalm in the Bible, Psalm 118 (119). This rare Venetian print was based on the author`s lectures at the prestigious University of Salamanca. He was able to preach on this single psalm for a full 7 years, as the author states in the introduction. For collectors it represents a highly prized and market-rare example of late Renaissance theological literature, distinguished both by the depth of its exegesis and by typography typical of the period. Binding damaged, book block in good condition; manuscript annotations on the front blank leaf and the title page.