Missale Iuxta Morem et Consuetudinem Sedis Valentiae

Missale Iuxta Morem et Consuetudinem Sedis Valentiae

This splendid incunabulum, an early book printed before 1501, has complicated origins: it is a commission of the Basilica San Andrés de Mantua from the Venetian workshop of a German printer, Johannes Hamman, which is in turn dedicated to the clergy of Valencia. The work was published in 1492 and was later appended with a wonderfully detailed and colored engraving of Calvary with Christ flanked by the Virgin Mary and Saint John. The Latin text consists of thirteen masses written by Saint Gregory (ca. 540–604) and includes a blessing for the territory of Valencia. The first Valencian missal was printed in Venice because of a distrust of the Valencians, who were dismissed as dubious converts, even though Andrés de Mantua was a patron and admirer of the Valencian clergy.