date published: 1450-1499

Sacrobosco, Noviciis adolescentibus, 1485 ([1]1v)

This woodcut---one of the standard ones accompanying Sacrobosco's astronomical textbook---is in this edition facing the beginning of the text and the incipit.

Sacrobosco, Noviciis adolescentibus, 1485 ([1]2r)

Sacrobosco's works were some of the most influential astronomical texts of the middle ages. It was frequently collected with works from Regiomantus and Peurbach as a textbook on the subject. The incipit (even though it's not preceded by the phrase) provides the title under which this collection is cataloged, rather than the more commonly used De sphaera mundi.

Verkündigung der Bulle Pastoris, 1479

This 1479 papal bull from Pope Sixtus IV features two nearly-identical collation notes by papal notaries, identified by their initials in the seals to the left of their notes as Gregorius May and Mathias Horn. The huge and intricate initial I is handwritten and the bull is printed on parchment, both features which hearken back to the established and respected tradition of manuscript bookmaking.