St. James, Basilius Magnus, and Johannes Chrysostomos — Paris 1560

Λειτυργίαι τῶν ἁγίων πατέρων, Ἰακώβου τοῦ ἀποστόλου καὶ ἀδελφοθέου. Βασιλείου τοῦ μεγάλου. Ἰωάννου τοῦ χρυσοστόμου […] — Parisiis, M.D.LX. Apud Guil. Morelium, in Grecis typographum Regium [Paris, G. Morel, 1560]. Bound first:

Liturgia sive missae sanctorum patrum […] – Ibd. 1560.

Folio (300 x 205 mm).

Greek ed.: *² A-P⁶: (2) ff., 179 pp. – Adams L-842. Tear in lower blank margin of leaf F₅.

Latin ed.: a,b⁴ A-F⁶ G-Z⁴: (8) ff., 212 (recte 208) pp.

Binding: 17th century calf  gilt, rebacked. Provenance: A few notes on fly-leaf. 

Editio princeps of the liturgy of St. James.

A clean and fresh copy with ample margins. Of Morel’s 69 books printed in Greek this is the only one in folio format. It’s hard to imagine a page more beautiful than page 3.

 

¶ “A collection of old Greek liturgies according to the rites of St. James, Basilius Magnus, and Johannes Chrysostomos, suppplemented with evidence from a number of Greek Church Fathers, in Greek throughout, and also separately in Latin.” (Smitskamp, catalogue 641).

The Latin edition has some additional texts not published in the Greek version: Nicolaus Cabasila, De divino altaris sacrificio (p. 117-157), Maximus Monachus, De ecclesiastica mystagogia (p. 157-174) and Cardinal Bessarion, De sacramento eucharistiae (p. 174-191). Furthermore a selection of texts of Chrysostomos made by Claudius de Sainctes, who also wrote the introduction to this Latin edition.

“A very fine book […] containing the magnificent liturgies of St. James, St. Basil, and St. Chrysostom, in Greek, with a Latin translation, was printed by Morel of Paris, in 1560, in one color, from the Royal Greek types, the rubrics in these Greek liturgies being distinguished by a small Greek character justified into the lines of text, and by a tiny italic in the Latin translation. A feature, also, of the Latin versions is the printing of the words Sacerdos, Diaconus, Populus, in spaced capitals, above the text, much as if they were speakers in a drama.” (D. B. Updike, Some notes on liturgical printing, in: The Dolphin, no. 2, 1935, p. 218.)

“A beautiful folio […] The edition of Morel has hitherto furnished the only printed text of the liturgy of S. James.” (Ch. A. Swainson, The Greek Liturgies …, London 1884, p. vi)