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RARE MEDIEVAL COMMENTARY ON ARISTOTLE'S PHYSICS
CANONICUS, Joannes. Q(uaesti)ones super. VIII. lib(ros). phy(sicorum). Aristo(telis). perutiles: ...
[colophon:] Venice, Octavianus Scotus, 8 May 1520. Folio (31 x 21 cm). With 38 decorative woodcut initials and a woodcut publisher's device. Set in 4 sizes of rotunda (round gothic) types. Modern vellum, marbled endpapers.
| Orders and Information | € 1500 |
Rare last edition of a commentary by the Franciscan cleric Johannes Canonicus (active 1320) on part VIII of Aristotle's physics, which deals with concepts of movement, time and change, and serves as the basis of his theory of causation, often applied by medieval scholars to prove the existence of God. It comprises 33 questions in 6 chapters, printed in two columns. With a 14-page alphabetical index at the front. The register statement below the colophon implies a collation A10 a-g8 h10, but this is clearly an error, for the text is complete and all copies collate A8 a-g8 h10. There appear to have been eight editions published, from 1475 to 1520, those of 1492 and the present 1520 by Scotus. We have located only five other copies.
With an early inscription on the title-page and two modern bookplates. A very good copy of a medieval commentary on Aristotle's physics.
