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Summa S. Thomae Aqunatis, Doctoris Angelici, Ordinis Fratrum Pradicatorum, vniversam sacram Theologiam complectans, in tres partes diuisa ad Romanvm exemplar diligenter recognita; cum Commentariis R.D.D. Thomae de Vio Caietani . . . Nunc vero eruditissma R. F. Chrysostomi Iavelli Commentaria in primum partem in lucem prolata hic adicimus. Accesit autem Supplementum Tertiae pars, et Quodlibeta eiusdem S. Thomae, itemque Opuscula omnia Caietani, et multi iique locupletissimi Indices, 3 volumes here bound in 5 (Lyon: Thibault Ancelin for Jeanne Giunta, 1581) .

The title page of the first volume of this set mentions the contents of all three volumes, although each major part has its own title page. The title pages bear the device of a rampant lion with the motto De Forti Dvlcedo; this was the mark of the "heirs of Jacopo Giunta," who had established his family's printing operation in Lyon around 1519 (see catalogue n° 71; for the device, see Baudrier 6: 285bis). From the 1480s throughout the sixteenth century, the Giunta family, originally from Florence, established a widespread printing empire in Florence, Venice (catalogue n° 66 and n° 67), Lyon and Spain (catalogue n° 70); descendents of the Giunta family are still active today in the printing business in Florence. In 1577 Jeanne Giunta, the daughter of Jacopo, became the legal proprietor of the Giunta firm in Lyon, and she used the device of the rampant lion for a short time thereafter. Colophons on the blank last versos of each work indicate that the printer of these volumes was Thibault Ancelin, who collaborated with many other publishers in Lyon. In 1580-1581, Jeanne collaborated with another printer, Nicholas Guerin, in a multi-volume edition of all of these same works; this edition is nearly identical with the one printed by Ancelin (see Baudrier 6: 377-79). The heirs of Jacopo Giunta had previously published editions of Thomas Aquinas's Summa with the commentaries of Cajetan and some of the other items included in these volumes (in 1558, 1562 and 1568). This new, even more comprehensive edition was perhaps motivated by competitors, such as the Plantin Louvain edition of 1569.

The first volume of the Giunta-Ancelin edition contains the first part of the Summa theologiae of Thomas Aquinas, accompanied by the commentary of Cajetan (see catalogue n° 67), and followed by the commentary (only on the first part) by Chrysostom Javellus, O.P. (†1540; see catalogue n° 45 and n° 67), here printed for the first time by the Giuntas. At the end of the first volume (second series pp. 493-99) is printed a small work attributed to Thomas Aquinas, De praescientia et praedestinatione Tractatvs (see catlogue n° 67). This work was actually written by the fourteenth-century Dominican, Leonardus de Pistorio (Pistoia), who also wrote mathematical treatises and other devotional and catechetical works.

The second volume (here bound in two) contains the first and second parts of the second book of the Summa accompanied by Cajetan's commentary. The third volume contains the third part of the Summa with Cajetan's commentary; in all three volumes, printed in double columns, Thomas's text in larger print is surrounded in various dispositions by Cajetan's commentary in smaller print. The third volume also contains "additions" to the Summa, that is, the Supplementum, or questions drawn from Thomas's commentary of the fourth book of the Sentences, compiled after Thomas died to complete the scheme of his unfinished work. This text has no commentary. Then follow Thomas's twelve quodlibetal questions and Svmmae theologiae D. Thomae Aqvinatis Sex copiosissimi indices (see catalogue n° 66 and n° 67). The first five indices are those printed in the Louvain edition published by Christopher Plantin (catalogue n° 62); to these is added a sixth, a "concordance of [seeming] contradictions" in Thomas's writings.

This concordance of seeming discordances indicates that, by 1581, Thomas Aquinas had come to receive the same reverent treatment as the canons of the Church, the holy Fathers, and the sacred Scriptures. And there is more. Following the indices to the Summa proper are a topical index to Cajetan's commentary; a topical index to Thomas's Quodlibeta; a topical index to the Opuscula of Cajetan; a topical index to Chrysostom Javellus' commentary on the first part of the Summa; and a "Catalogue of theologians, philosophers, orators, poets and others" cited in Thomas's writings. This catalogue expands the similar one that had been published in the Louvain edition (catalogue n° 62). Finally, in continuing signatures, the edition presents the Opuscula omnia of Cajetan (catalogue n° 66), which were anticipated by their index earlier in the volume. (In the Notre Dame exemplar, the third part of the Summa, the Supplementum and the quodlibetal questions are bound in a fourth volume, and the indices and Cajetan's treatises are bound in a fifth.) In the same year (1581), another printer in Lyon, Barthélemy Honorat, published the Sex copiosissimi indices, the accompanying indices and the Opuscula of Cajetan, as printed in the last volume in Ancelin's edition (Baudrier 4: 142). Doubtless he too collaborated with the Giunta publishers.

The assembly of Thomas's texts, commentaries on his Summa theologiae and apparatus for reading them printed in this edition constituted a late sixteenth-century library of thomistica. All of the items and more were printed in later encyclopedic sets published by Jeanne Giunta's cousins in Venice, Jacopo and Filippo Giunta (catalogue n° 66 and n° 67). The business relations between the Giuntas in Venice and Lyon were close, which explains the exchange of texts between them. Indeed, it was Filippo Tinghi, who had married into the family and was a counsellor to the brothers in Venice, who was sent to Lyon after Jacopo's death to protect the family's interests there.

References: Adams 1: 50 nos 1437, 1439; Baudrier 6: 337-69 (Jeanne Giunta, Tinghi); IA 3/3: 300 (Thibault Ancelin); Kaeppeli no 2881 (treatise of Leonardus de Pistorio); Quétif-Échard 2/1: 104b-5b (Chrysostom Javellus).

Catalogue No. 63
Call Number: Rare Books B 765 T361st 1581a
     Catalog Record

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