In Folio: Rare Volumes in the Stanford University Libraries

 

NICHOLAS, OF LYRA, CA. 1270-1349.

Postilla super Librum Psalmorum.
[Germany, later 15th cent.].

Nicholas of Lyra, a French Franciscan, was a professor at the Sorbonne. His scriptural commentaries, such as this one on the Book of Psalms, became authoritative throughout Europe, and his great commentary on the Bible, Postilla super Totam Bibliam was the first Biblical commentary ever printed, issued in Rome, printed by Sweynheym and Pannartz in 1471/1472. His scholarship was undisputed; he used a wide variety of textual sources, fully mastered Hebrew, and drew vigorously from the valuable commentaries of Jewish exegetes (scholars writing explanations or critical interpretations of a text), especially those of the celebrated Talmudist Rashi (d. 1105).

This manuscript on paper is written in a Gothic book hand, with a large penwork initial on the first leaf and paragraph marks and underlinings in red throughout. Bound in wooden boards, this copy still has the original iron clamp, ring, and chain that were attached when it was part of a chained library, in which books and manuscripts were chained to tables or bookcases—an early and time-honored means of "inventory control."

 

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