[BINDING] Paraphrasis in psalmos omnes Davidicos, cum argumentis et annotationibus:

Lyon : P[ierre]. Landry, 1597. Two volumes in one, folio (360 x 230 mm), contemporary panelled calf over oak boards with two brass clasps (still working), expertly and sympathetically rebacked in period style; the beautiful inner boards left exposed, each with a stub of vellum manuscript waste (taken from a rubricated music ms.); later endpapers; Part 1. Paraphrasis in psalmos omnes Davidicos. Title-leaf in red and black, with later ms. ownership label dated 1790 pasted on, pp. [8], 334, [2]; Approbatio in ms. at foot of last page; Part 2. In proverbia Salomonis accuratissima et doctissima commentaria. Title-leaf in red and black (identical imprint to the first work), with later ms. ownership label dated 1790 pasted on, pp. [6], 583, [1], [10]; second work with pale water stain at fore-edge margin of last 80 or so leaves (not affecting the text), otherwise internally very good throughout.

Two commentaries by the Bishop of Ghent, Cornelius Jansen the Elder (Hulst 1510-1576 Ghent), on the Book of Psalms and the Book of Proverbs (the latter also covering the Book of Ecclesiastes). The first work (Psalmos) was first published in 1569, and the second (Proverbia) in 1589.

Note on the binding:

We believe this is a late-sixteenth or early seventeenth Cambridge roll binding. The concentric panels feature a centrepiece of lozenge-shaped compartments with roses inside; a scrolling foliate border; a repeating motif of the busts of four Christian virtues, Fides, Spes, Caritas and Fortitudo; and an outer border reprising the lozenge-and-rose design of the centrepiece.

For the Cambridge preference for the use of vellum stubs cf. Pearson, David, English bookbinding styles 1450-1800 : a handbook, fig. 2.20. p. 35. According to Pearson, ‘Oxford binders were less inclined to use an additional vellum stub beneath the endleaves, in the way that can be seen in the late-sixteenth-century Cambridge binding shown in fig. 2.20….’ (ibid., p. 34).