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A Bolognese binding for Jakob von Mosheim
Jakob von Mosheim (Moshaim, Mosham, Moßhaimb) was one of three sons of the Austrian nobleman Benedikt von Mosheim and Catharina Gründner.1 Jakob matriculated at Vienna in 1514 (Bacc. art. 1516; Mag. art. 1518),2 and in 1522 followed his elder brother, Ruprecht (1493-1543), to Bologna. A relative, Ambros von Mosheim, matriculated beside Jakob on the same day.3 Jakob was nominated Procurator of the Natio Germanica in 1523, and reputedly promoted doctor juris utriusque in 1529.4
It was customary for foreign students at Bologna university to have their schoolbooks specially bound by local bookbinders, to keep as mementos of their student years. The binder usually lettered the book’s title in the centre of the upper cover, in some sort of frame, and the owner’s name and often a date in the same place on the lower cover. For about ten years, from the early 1520s to about 1534, one bookbinding shop monopolised the custom of the German students. Ilse Schunke suggested that he was the bedellus Heinrich Riger,5 but Anthony Hobson disagreed, maintaining that the binder was almost certainly a bookseller, perhaps “Arnold of Cologne” (Arnoldus Coloniensis), the manager of the “most elegant bookshop of the Germans”.6
A volume acquired by Jakob Mosheim during his university years in Bologna is in the Bibliotheca Brookeriana (below). It is the first volume of the two-volume 1523 Aldine Cicero Opera Philosophica; the second volume of the set (issued three months after the first, in August 1523) either has been lost, or has yet to be recognised. The material is dark brown goatskin drawn over pasteboards, the covers decorated in blind with an arabesque border and cornerpieces, in center a long gilt cartouche lettered on upper cover the title and volvmen i. and on lower cover iacobvs de mosham. An almost identical binding was produced for Ambros.7 Prominent customers of the shop, which Hobson dubbed “The German Students’ Binder,” were Theodor Spiegel, Christoph von Schlick, Moritz von Reinach, and Georg Logau.8
From 1521-1528, Jakob and his two brothers were Pflege (Caretakers) of the castle of Strechau, the most powerful princely fortress in Upper Styria. In 1528, Hans Hoffmann took Strechau Castle as collateral for loans granted to the sovereign, however Jakob continued to function as Pfleger on his behalf. In 1535, he published his brother Ruprecht's translation of a treatise on the breeding of dogs (Kynosophion) together with his Encomium canis (Vienna: Singriener). In a document of 1540, Jakob is referred to respectfully as Ritter (knight), Pfleger von Strechau, and a Schätzkommissar (appraiser) in the Eisenerzer Alps for smelters involved in iron production.9 The date of his death appears to be unknown.
Other books belonging to Jakob von Mosheim are recorded, however information about their bindings is currently unavailable. In 1547, Jakob contracted with Abt Valentin Abel of Benediktinerstift Admont, to exchange some of his books, and some belonging to his lately-deceased brother, Ruprecht, for certain tithes in Pischendorf, Vilmannsdorf, and Siegstorf.10 A copy of the 1496 Grüninger Terentius Afer, inscribed by both Ruprecht and Jakob, was in the library of Ferdinand Hoffmann, Freiherr zu Grünbühel und Strechau (1540-1607), whose father, Hans, had taken possession of Strechau from the Mosheim.11 Ruprecht and Jakob’s copy of the 1510 Filippo Pincio edition of Suetonius is now in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (Bibl. Diez, fol. 491).12
1. Max Heuwieser, “Ruprecht von Mosham, Domdekan von Passau” in Riezler-Festschrift. Beiträge zur Bayerischen Geschichte (Gotha 1913), pp.115-192 (p.117) [link]. The eldest brother, Bartolomäus, is said to have remained at Schloß Tanekh in Steiermark.
2. Willy Szaivert & Franz Gall, Die Matrikel der Universität Wien, Bd. 2, 1451-1518 (Graz 1959), p.405 no. 5. Jakob is apparently the “Dnum. Jacobum de Morsheim atrium ingenuarum Doctorem laureatum” addressed by Lukas Capher in a volume of Orationes (Vienna: Johann Singriener, 1519; VD16 C 806) and the “Iacobus de Moshaym philosophus ingenuis adolescentibus” who addresses - perhaps as their preceptor, or as a family friend - the brothers Wolfgang and Sebastian Hutstocker in a commentary on the Liber Ecclesiasticus (Vienna: Johann Singriener, September 1519; VD16 B 4044).
3. Consecutive entries in the Register of the Natio Germanica state “A domino Ambrosio de Mosham natione Stiro unum Rhenensem in auro”; “A domino Iacobo de Mosham Stiro unum florenum 25 in auro”; see Ernst Friedländer & Carlo Malagola, Acta Nationis Germanicae Universitatis Bononiensis (Berlin 1887), p.288 [link]. Gustav Carl Knod, Deutsche Studenten in Bologna, 1289-1562 (Berlin 1899), no. 2449 (Ambrosius de Mosheim, as “possibly” a brother of Jakob) [link].
4. Knod, op. cit., no. 2450 [link]. Ingrid Matschinegg, Österreicher als Universitätsbesucher in Italien (1500-1630), PhD thesis, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz (1999), p.488 no. 1668 [link].
5. I. Schunke, “Foreign bookbindings, II Italian Renaissance bookbindings: 1. Bologna 1519” in The Book Collector 18 (1969), pp.200-201; I. Schunke, “Die Renaissanceeinbandkunst in Bologna” in Beiträge zur Geschichte des Buches und seiner Funktion in der Gesellschaft: Festschrift für Hans Widmann (Stuttgart 1974), pp.252-268 (p.259 & Pl. 14).
6. A. Hobson, “Bookbinding in Bologna” in Schede umanistiche, n.s., 1 (1998), pp.147-176 (pp.157-159); Anthony Hobson & Leonardo Quaquarelli, Legature bolognesi del rinascimento (Bologna 1998), pp.16-18. For “Arnold of Cologne”, see the letter of Giovanni Angelo Odoni to Erasmus; P.S. Allen, Opus Epistolarum Des. Erasmi Roterodami (Oxford 1947), XI, p.100 (Ep. 3002) [link]; Contemporaries of Erasmus: a biographical register of the renaissance and reformation (Toronto 1985), I, p.73 [link].
7. Titus Livius, T. Liuius Patauinus historicus duobus libris auctus: cum L. Flori epitome. Addito indice copioso, & Leonardo Aretino de primo bello punico (Venice: Melchiorre Sessa & Pietro Ravani, 3 May 1520), the upper cover lettered t. livius patavinvs and lower cover ambrosivs de mosham. This volume was subsequently in the library of San Nicolò da Tolentino (inkstamp: Domus S. Nicolai Tolent. Venet.); was offered by Leo S. Olschki, Choix de livres anciens rares et curieux, Quatrième partie (Florence 1914), item 4751 [link]; bought by Tammaro De Marinis; and is now Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Stamp.De.Marinis.14 [link]. Tammaro De Marinis, La Legatura artistica in Italia nei secoli XV e XVI (Florence 1960), no. 1276.
8. Dietrich (Theodoricus) von Spiegel, matriculated 1524 (Knod, op. cit., no. 3593). Schunke, op. cit., p.100; De Marinis, op. cit., no. 1273bis. Christoph von Schlick, matriculated 1523 (Knod, op. cit., no. 3343). E.P. Goldschmidt, “Die Einbände für deutsche Studenten an ausländischen Universitäten im 16. Jahrhundert” in Zeitschrift für Bücherfreunde 21 (1929), pp.81-89 (pp.83-84); De Marinis, op. cit., nos. 1273, 1279 & Pl. 221. Moritz von Reinach, matriculated 1518 (Knod, op. cit., no. 2996). De Marinis, op. cit., no. 1272bis. Georg von Logau, matriculated 1519 (Knod, op. cit., no. 2114). De Marinis, op. cit., no. 1271 & Pl. 220; Konrad von Rabenau, Deutsche Bucheinbände der Renaissance um Jakob Krause (Brussels 1994), no. 42; Hobson & Quaquarelli, op. cit., no. 19.
9. Martin Khull-Kholwald, Der Adel auf dem Lande und sein Kredit: der Schuldschein als zentrales Finanzinstrument in der Steiermark (1515-1635) (Vienna 2013), p.68 [link].
10. The charter is Stiftsarchiv Admont, A 86 [link]. Eight books belonging to Jakob and three belonging to Ruprecht are listed by Jacob Wichner, Kloster Admont und seine Beziehungen zur Wissenschaft und zum Unterricht ([Graz] 1892), pp.71-72 [link]; Jakob's books are: 1) Giovanni Boccaccio, Genealogiae Ioannis Boccatii cum demonstrationibus in formis arborum designatis (Venice: Agostino Zanni, 1511). 2) Euclides, Euclidis Megarensis philosophi acutissimi mathematicorumque omnium sine controuersi principis Opera a Campano interprete fidissimo tralata (Venice: Paganino Paganini & Alessandro Paganini, 1509). 3) Marcus Annaeus Lucanus, Pharsaliae, seu Belli civilis libri (Strassburg: Johann Prüß, 1509). 4) Niccolò Perotto, In hoc volumine habentur haec. Cornucopiae, siue linguæ Latinæ commentarij diligentissime recogniti (Venice: Andrea Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, 1513). 5) Gaius Plinius Secundus, Liber septimus naturalis historie seorsim impressus et emendatus perquam diligenter (Vienna: Johann Singriener, 1515). 6) Plutarchus, Opuscula quaedam, Des. Erasmo Roterodamo, Stephano Nigro, Angelo Barbato, Bilibaldo Pirckheymero, & Philippo Melanchthone Brettano, interpretibus (Basel: Johann Froben, 1518). 7) Aurelius Prudentius Clemens, Prudentii poetae Opera. Virtutum cum uitiis pugna, heroico carmine (Venice: Aldo Manuzio, 1501). 8) Scriptores rei rusticae, Libri de re rustica (Venice: Aldo Manuzio & Andrea Torresano, 1514).
11. Terentius Afer, Comoediae (Strassburg: Johann Grüninger, 1496). Hoffmann’s library passed to Ferdinand Joseph, Fürst von Dietrichstein zu Nikolsburg (1636-1698), and was consigned for sale by a descendant: Gilhofer & Ranschburg, Auktion 11: Bibliothek Alexander Fürst Dietrichstein Schloß Nikolsburg, Č.S.R. bestehend aus den Sammlungen … Ferdinand Hoffman, Freiherr auf Grünpuhel und Strechau (1540-1607), Lucerne, 21-22 November 1933. The Terentius Afer was offered as lot 242 (“Orig.-Holzdeckelbd. mit gepreßtem Schweinslederrücken und 2 Schließen” [link]). Another of Jakob’s books (Albertus Magnus, Metaphysica, Venice: Johannes & Gregorius de Gregoriis, 1494) migrated from Hoffmann’s sale (lot 252) into Brno, Moravská zemská knihovna-Univerzitní knihovna, Mk P 78 [link]; see Vladislav Dokoupil, Soupis prvotisků z fondů Universitní knihovny v Brně (Brno 1970), no. 21 [link], and no. 451 [link], for Jakob’s copy of Eusebius Caesariensis, De evangelica praeparatione (Venice: Bartholomaeus de Zanis, 1500), Mk P 104, which evidently arrived in Brno by a different route [link].
12. Ursula Winter, Die europäischen Handschriften der Bibliothek Diez, Teil II: Die Libri impressi cum notis manuscriptis der Bibliotheca Dieziana (Leipzig 1986), p.9 (“Moderner Pappband”) [link].
binding
Marcus Tullius Cicero, M. T. Ciceronis De philosophia volumen primum, in quo haec continentur. Academicarum quaestionum. Editionis primae liber secundus. Editionis secundae liber primus. De finibus bonorum et malorum libri V. Tusculanarum quaestionum libri V (Venice: Heirs of Aldus Manutius & Andreas Torresanus, May 1523)
provenance
● Jakob von Mosheim, supralibros
● unidentified owner(s), occasional marginalia
● Kenneth John Hewett (1919-1994), exlibris
● Patrick King Rare Books, Stony Stratford; their Catalogue 17: Gothic and Renaissance bookbindings from the collection of K.J. Hewett (Stony Stratford [1999]), item 14 (£2500)
● T. Kimball Brooker (purchased from the above, 1999) [Bibliotheca Brookeriana ID #0238; offered by Sotheby’s, Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library, The Aldine Collection A–C, New York, 12 October 2023, lot 317]