In Folio: Rare Volumes in the Stanford University Libraries

SAINT AUGUSTINE, BISHOP OF HIPPO, 354-430.

Aurelij Augustini De Ciuitate Dei.

Confectum Venetijs: Ab ... Nicolao Ienson, Petro Momenicho principe, anno a natiuitate Domini milesimo quadringe[n]tesimo septuagesimo quinto sexto nonas Octobres [2 Oct. 1475].

St. Augustine’s Confessions, a masterpiece of spiritual autobiography, focused on God and the individual. De Civitate Dei (The City of God), another of Augustine’s great contributions to western thought, treats of the relationship between God and the world, through history. Rome had been sacked in 410, and it was widely held that the undoing of Rome was owing to a change: the abolition of the pagan deities in favor of the Christian religion. In this monumental work, Augustine argues that the fall of Rome cannot be legitimately blamed on the rejection of pagan gods, and furthermore that the Christian Church even in a secular role will be able to fill the vacuum left by the gradual break-up of the old pagan order. The City of God covers the polytheism of Rome and Greek philosophy (especially Platonic and neo-Platonic thought); the largest portion of the book features a treatment of time and eternity, a remarkable and timeless work of erudition in which Augustine highlights the tension between Civitas coelestis of those who love God and Civitas terrena, the worldly. History is seen as an evolution rather than a cycle, a steady progression in which God’s divine plan of the redemption of mankind is carried out. The City of God was a tremendously influential and oft-cited book in the Middle Ages, said to be one of the Emperor Charlemagne’s favorites. This edition is printed by Nicolas Jenson (1420-1480), who was Master of the French Royal Mint at Tours when in October 1458 he was sent to Mainz to learn printing. He migrated to Venice about 1467, and became one of the greatest of all Renaissance printers, creating beautiful typefaces that still inspire modern revivals (William Morris’ Golden Type was modeled after a typeface of Jenson’s design).

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