Fasciculus Temporum. Auctoritates de Vita et Moribus Philosophorum

Fasciculus Temporum, Little Bundles of Time in English, is the history of the world from Creation to the reign of Pope Sixtus IV (1414–84) by Werner Rolevinck (1425–1502), which appeared in nearly 40 editions during the author’s lifetime and continued to be published and translated until 1726 – this particular edition was published in 1480. This rare incunabulum, an early printed book originating from before 1501, is the only surviving work from the printing house of Bartolomé Segura and Alfonso del Puerto in Seville. It is, in essence, a collection of theological, philosophical, homiletical, ascetic, exegetic, biographic, and historical texts. The other treatise to appear in the codex is the Auctoritates de Vita et Moribus Philosophorum, Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers in English. It was originally written in the 3rd century by the Greek biographer Diogenes Laërtius. His work is marked by a tendency to present philosophical teachings without attempting to interpret or expand on them. Today it represents the most authoritative source on the history of Greek philosophy because the primary sources upon which Diogenes relied are lost for the most part. Both of these fascinating Latin works are printed in an elegant rounded Gothic script and are adorned with engraved diagrams, architectures, cityscapes, religious scenes, initials, and floral borders – some of the last two being adorned with rich shades of red, blue, and gold leaf.