Need help to value a book

Hello everybody. I was offered this book as lifetime issue of Erasmus work. It is only first volume. Size is folio, no library stamps or previous owners signs, only some remarks in text, very old ones.
What it could worth? Seller doesn't now real price and asking huge amount of money for it.

 

,,,
Some sort of facsimile reprint. No way is this from 1530.

 

damage...foxing....tell seller no thank you !!

 

The binding looks late 19th century and I'd be hesitant to think that the leafs would be much older then that without substantial evidence. Hopefully a person knowledgeable in books will share their opinion since that is NOT me.

 

Sorry, not all pics. I am not sure it is facsimile. It is very old paper with watermarks.

 

Was really intrigued. In Worldcat only 11 libraries have it. But price is hell high.
https://www.worldcat.org/title/d-io...ani-opera/oclc/34570555?referer=di&ht=edition

 

The spine was replaced at a much later date. And it appears the boards were replaced somewhat later too. Here's a copy on Abebooks France with what appears to be period binding. 800 euros.

https://www.abebooks.fr/DIVI-IOANNI...SCOPI-Constantinopolitani-opera/5038252168/bd

Debora

 

I totally agree. Also leaves were cut.

 

This looks like a late 17th or early 18thc book.

 

The text block (pages) looks perfectly consistent with the 1530 date, but the boards (cover) look 17th-18th century, and the rebacked spine is done in a 19th-early 20th century style. The anachronistic binding will not contribute to the value of the book. It would have been better if the last binder had done the whole volume in a consistent style or, better yet, in period appropriate vellum.

 

the house where it was printed looks better than the binding.

 

I own a couple of books that old, I dont see any reason to think that this is a reprint.
Yes it was rebacked at some point, and the binding is later than the book, I think 2manybooks is spot on.
The damage and the new back is hurting the value a lot, also that its only a first volume. Most books in the 16th century and before were printed in Latin, a language very few peple can read today, so Latin books are cheaper than others.
The book Debora found is not comparable. Around 1550 the number of books printed soared, making books printed before much rarer. (I think the price is high, as are most prices on Abebooks and other sites listing offers by professional booksellers.)

However I doubt the book was written by Erasmus, if I read correctly it was written by Johannes? Huser about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Chrysostom, whereas the book by Erasmus https://archive.thulb.uni-jena.de/korax/receive/Korax_cbu_00002533?lang=en is about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo

If you want the book for its age and dont care about the condition and content, you should buy it (with the beautiful but quite common initials) for maybe 200-400 Euro.

Erasmus wrote many books, and they were succsessful, so they are not hard to find today, even ones printed during his lifetime.

 

Thanks a lot!!!

 

Basileae, in officina frobeniana per ...Hieronymum Frobenium...

let's switch to German, it's easier for further research.
- Johannes Herwagen, born around 1497, became citizen of Basel 1528
- Hieronymus Froben, born 1501, eldest son of Johann Froben ( now there the dollar would roll...)
- Nikolaus Episcopus, a printer born 1501 in Alsatia

they succeeded Johann Froben as printers/editors; since then the "officina" was added.

it is the complete index of the sayings of the divine Johannes
Chrysostomos put together by Johann Huser

now there's where it starts to become interesting. Huser was a doctor and only born in 1545 and an avid collector of Paracelsus manuscripts; so I suspect it must be another Huser (not a really rare name in those days)

 

OK, I'll jump on. This describes some volumes from the set of 1530. Chrysostom is listed as author. Under Added Author it says: Edited and translated, in part, by Erasmus.

Oops: https://library.nysoclib.org/search/o221347559

 

died AD 407 and wrote a book AD 1530. wow, New York... I hope for a Woody Allen movie.
do they also have pics ?

 

No. I only looked at that one holding. Don't know if WorldCat entries ever have pix. You could check some of the others.

https://www.worldcat.org/title/d-io...1347559/editions?referer=di&editionsView=true

 

I think those references are automatically generated. poor students filling in the names in the form and bingo.
another thought - maybe the one we have here is an added index of the other five volumes to make it easier finding text passages.

 

The Index is typically bound with Volume I, as is the case here. The collation of Volume I is: A⁶ B⁴ a-l⁶ m⁸ n-z⁶ A-2C⁶; Volume 4: a*-z*⁶ A*-2F*⁶ 2G*⁸. The Index is signed: a-g⁶. This is one of five volumes.

Erasmus is, indeed, the editor. Amusingly, it was the elder Froben's press which published the first bibliography of Erasmus' writings: 29 March, 1519.
.

 

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