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Summa totius Theologiae Divi Thomae de Aquino Doctoris Angelici et Sanctae Ecclesiae, almi Ordinis Praedicatorum, cum Elucidationibus formalibus . . . per Fratrem Seraphinum Capponi a Porrecta, eiusdem Ordinis . . . Accessere porrò luculentissima, subtilissimique Commentaria Reverendissimi Divi Thomae de Vio, Caietani, Cardinalis Sancti Sixti . . . Adsunt & Caietani Opuscula, et illa eruditissima; quae admodum R.P. Chrysostomus Iavellvs in primum tractaum primam partem composuit. Colliguntur et his Quodlibeta: De praescientia & praedestinatione tractatus Sancti Thomae: eidemque attributae Quaestiones tum de Motoribus orbium, tum de Principio indiuiduationis: Augustini Hunnaei Axiomata de sacramentis Ecclesiae, & Catechismus, 5 volumes (Venice: Francesco de Franceschi for Jacopo and Filippo Giunta, 1596) .

As the title page of the first volume of the set reveals, this encyclopedic publication by the Giunta brothers in Venice presents a Dominican extravaganza. It consolidates in one place all of the Thomistic materials printed in the Louvain edition published by Plantin, in the edition by their cousin Jeanne in Lyon, and in their own volumes of Thomistic writings and apparatus (catalogue n° 62, n° 63, n° 66). The volumes contain everything one needs to study the writings of the Angelic Doctor.

Although the title page bears the name of Francesco de Franceschi, the colophons state that the volumes were printed by the Giunta brothers. Moroever, the engraving of Thomas Aquinas that the Giuntas had used in their previous editions of Thomistic works (see catalogue n° 66; Zappelli, fig. 340) is reemployed on the verso of each title page. Colophons printed at the end of each volume along with a Series Chartarum (register of signatures) indicate that the Prima et Secunda secundae of the Summa theologiae and their commentaries were printed first in 1595 (see, e.g., vol. 2, on blank verso between pp. 792-93, with printer's device) and that the other volumes were printed in 1596.

The parts of Thomas Aquinas's Summa theologiae accompanied by the commentary of Cajetan and the elucidations of Serafino Capponi are distributed through the five volumes: Prima pars (vol. 1), Prima secundae (vol. 2), Secunda secundae (vol. 3), Tertia pars de salvatore nostro (vol 4, ST 3 qq.1-59), Tertia pars de sacramentis (vol. 5, ST 3 qq. 60-90, Supplement). An index for each part of Thomas's text (Index textus), of Cajetan's commentary (Index commenti) and of Serafino's elucidations (Tabula memorabilium) is printed at the beginning of each volume. The topical indices of the Summa and Cajetan's commentary greatly expand and distribute according to parts the material of the general topical indices of these works printed in the Lyon editions (catalogue n° 63); the index of Serafino's elucidations is here printed for the first time.

The first volume, moreover, contains an Index praedicabilium for the whole Summa, which locates materials for preaching in the temporal and sanctoral cycles of the whole liturgical year. This index is based on, but greatly amplifies, the fifth index of the oft published "six most copious indices" (catalogue n° 63 and n° 66). Likewise, the first volume contains an index of heresies and errors, keyed not only to the Summa but to Serafino's elucidations, which expands the similar index printed by the Giuntas in 1588 (catalogue n° 66). These two indices precede the text and commentaries. The index to Chrysostom Javellus' commentary on the first part of the Summa, however, which is printed at the very end of the first volume, is identical with the index printed earlier in the Lyon edition (catalogue n° 63). Finally, the Concordantiae dictorum et conclvsionum that is the last of the "six most copious indices" is here printed in volume 4 (see below) in an expanded and stylistically revised form.

All of the other items of the sixteenth-century Thomistic library are included in the volumes. The commentary of Chrysostom Javellus is printed in volume 1 after the text of the first part of the Summa and the comments of Cajetan and Serafino. It is followed as filler by the Tractatus de praescientia et de praedestinatione by Leonardus de Pistorio but attributed to Thomas (fols. 53v-56v). This treatise is reprinted as filler at the end of volume 2 (pp. 783-89). In volume 4, after the preliminaries and indices (32 fols.), and the text of, and commentaries on, the first 59 questions of the third part of the Summa (548 pp.) are printed, in continuous signatures, the concordances of contradictions (separately numbered fols. 545-81); the Opuscula omnia of Cajetan (306 pp.); Thomas's Quodlibeta and the two spurious questions discovered by Thomas Buoninsegni (58 fols.; catalogue n° 66); the Axiomata and catechism by Augustine Huens (26 fols.), and finally, indices to Cajetan's Opuscula and Thomas's quodlibetal questions. (The Notre Dame copy lacks all of the items after the concordances). The placement of the concordances and the extra materials in volume 4 presents a printing anomaly, which has confused bibliographers. Logically, these items would be printed at the end of volume 5, after the last questions of the third part of the Summa and the Supplementum. Seemingly, the publisher decided to publish them in the shorter fourth volume (548 pages of text and commentary) rather than in the much bulkier final volume (954 pages of text and commentary).

The pages of these books are spectacular and rather medieval. The texts of Thomas Aquinas are accompanied not only by their commentaries but also by two sets of annotation. Plate 22 (vol. 1, p. 34) demonstrates well the layout of the contents. The text of the first part of the Summa theologiae, in larger print, holds the two center columns of the page. The elucidations of Serafino Capponi (see catalogue n° 66), in smaller print, run parallel in columns outside and underneath Thomas's text. At the top of the left column of his comments are cross-references to corresponding questions or places in the writings of other eminent Scholastic theologians. These cross-references begin every article. They refer to Albert the Great, Bonaventure, Giles of Rome, Richard of Middleton, Durandus of St.-Pourçain, O.P., Duns Scotus, Francis Sylvester of Ferrara, O.P. (see catalogue n° 60-61), Domingo Bañez, O.P. (see catalogue n° 64) and many others. The annotations in the far outside columns are cross-references to other works by Thomas Aquinas. The extensive commentary of Cajetan follows every article of the Summa; here it begins at the bottom of the page and continues in two full columns on the next (p. 35). The fluctuating texts require the typographer to set a different disposition on every page. Wherever Thomas's article happens to end determines where Cajetan's commentary will be placed (e.g., in the middle of a page, marked off from Thomas's preceding and following text by linear dividers, at the foot of a page, or simply facing it on an opposite side).

After 62 folios of preliminary material and indices and 976 large folio pages of this textual display, there follow in this volume the Expositio of the first part of Thomas's Summa by Chrysostom Javellus (fols. 1r-53r), the two treatises on God's foreknowledge and predestination (fols. 53v-56v), and the index to Javellus' commentary (4 fols.). The pages of this edition are an early-modern Glossa ordinaria to the writings of Thomas Aquinas. (It is even possible that some of the old commentators anticipated the "insights" of modern students who prefer to read Thomas's texts sine glossa). These magnificent volumes testify to the continuity of the tradition of piety and erudition.

References: Adams 1: 50 no 1444; Ascarelli 401 (Francesco de Franceschi).

Catalogue No. 67
Call Number: Rare Books Oversize B 765 .T361st 1596      Catalog Record

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