New Acquisition: Gesta Romanorum, 1487
Special Collections is extremely pleased to announce that it has recently acquired a Gesta Romanorum, also known as the Deeds of the Romans, representing a collection of 181 moralized anecdotes and tales in Latin taken from Roman history. It was one of the most popular books in the fifteenth century and served as a source for several famous literary authors.
An enduringly popular work – with around twenty-five editions in the 15th century alone – thought to be composed and compiled in Southern Germany or England by a member of the clergy for the purpose of religious and moral instruction. Each accompanied by a separate ‘Expositio’ or ‘Moralisatio’, the 181 tales in this collection have their basis in a remarkable array of literary traditions, including pagan tales, the Old and New Testament, Voragine’s Legenda Aurea, fable literature, jest narratives, and Persian and Arabic lore.
Of its authorship nothing certain is known; and there is little but gratuitous conjecture to associate it either with the name of Helinandus or with that of Petrus Berchorius (Pierre Bercheure). It is even a matter of debate whether it took its rise in England, Germany or France. The work was evidently intended as a manual for preachers and was probably written by one who himself belonged to the clerical profession. The name, Deeds of the Romans, is only partially appropriate to the collection in its present form, since, besides the titles from Greek and Latin history and legend, it comprises fragments of very various origin, oriental and European.
The unifying element of the book is its moral purpose. In this Gesta, the style is barbarous, and the narrative ability of the compiler seems to vary with his source; but he has managed to bring together a considerable variety of excellent material. He gives us, for example, the germ of the romance of Guy of Warwick; the story of Darius and his Three Sons, versified by Occleve; part of Chaucer s Man of Lawes Tale; a tale of the emperor Theodosius, the same in its main features as that of Shakespeare s Lear; the story of the Three Black Crows; the Hermit and the Angel, well known from Parnell’s version, and a story identical with the Fridolin of Schiller.
Tale 80, for example, about a hermit experiencing the sharp end of God’s justice, has its roots in the work of 11th-century Rabbi Nissim ben Jacob ibn Shahin of present-day Tunisia. The stories are as entertaining as they are didactic, which accounts for their influence. Shakespeare’s Pericles was based on a story of John Gower derived from one of the tales, and parts of King Lear and The Merchant of Venice, as well as Chaucer’s Man of Law’s Tale also appear to be derived from tales in the collection. German poets and writers drew heavily, including Thomas Mann, Herman Hesse and Friedrich Schiller. So popular is this work with scholars and students that a new edition of the Gesta Romanorum was recently published by Manchester University Press in 2016.
Gesta Romanorum cum applicationibus moralisatis ac mysticis Augsburg: Anton Sorg, 1487. Folio (10 1/2 x 7 3/8 inches; 265 x 187 mm.). 98 leaves. Gothic letter. Text in double columns. Fifty or fifty-one lines per page. Initials supplied in red, rubricated throughout. Original wooden boards rebacked with half modern calf tooled in blind. Spine lettered in gilt. With brass hardware but lacking the clasp closure. Wooden boards chipped along the edges and with some minor worming. Newer endpapers, over partially exposed original endpapers. Some minor worming throughout, mainly marginal. The final few leaves have few more wormholes within the text, but text remains fully legible. A marginal closed tear to leaf n5, not affecting text. Leaves a bit wrinkled and some minor damp-staining to upper margin at the end. Cited in: Hain/Copinger 7739. GW 10895. Goff G290.
Anton Sorg (c. 1430-1493) was among the earliest of the Augsburg printers. He produced some 180 works between 1475 and 1493. He was a painter, mapmaker, paper-mill owner, translator, and printer. He was trained by Gunther Zainer on the premises of the Abbey of Saints Ulric & Afra, Augsburg, Bavaria.
Previous owner’s old ink manuscript index on front pastedown, covering over possibly ex libris. A contemporary religious note at the bottom of leaf b8v and an old owner’s inscription on the final leaf “Bartholomaeus Weldpach” dated 1528. Auction House says from the collection of Bjarne Saxhof (1953-2003), Civil Engineer, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby. Saxhof assembled a fine collection of printed books and manuscripts, including some important private press books. Sold at auction by Heritage Auctions (Dallas, TX) in April 2015 to Heritage Book Shop, Tarzana, CA. UO Libraries purchase, July 2021.
Incunabula are quite difficult to come by since their production window is limited to the second half of the fifteenth century (1440-1500). They straddle a line between manuscript and printed book, providing a glimpse into this transitionary literary moment in the late medieval period. This new acquisition to the University of Oregon Special Collections & University Archives will surely prove helpful and important to medievalists, early literary scholars, and students of the pre-modern period at the University of Oregon.
— Zoey Kambour and David de Lorenzo
