A rare and significant edition of De veritate corporis et sanguinis Domini by Alger of Liège (Algerus, ca. 1060-ca. 1131), Benedictine monk of Cluny and one of the most influential medieval theologians on the Eucharist. This major treatise, composed during the so-called "second Eucharistic controversy", defends the doctrine of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist against the teachings of Berengarius of Tours. Admired by both medieval scholars and later by Erasmus, Algers work remained central to Catholic theology well into the sixteenth century.
This copy represents the Erasmian edition, prepared under Erasmuss supervision with his corrections and editorial guidance. His involvement gave the text a new humanist form and authority, making Algers theology newly relevant at a time when Eucharistic doctrine was again fiercely debated during the Reformation. Erasmuss careful attention to clarity and Latinity situates this edition within his broader humanist programme of restoring theological texts to philological precision and doctrinal coherence.
Only a handful of copies of this edition are known, and no record of it appears in recent sales databases, underlining its rarity on the market. It is the second edition overall, following the first printing in Freiburg im Breisgau (1530), and the first to be issued by Peter Quentel in Cologne.
Bound together with the Opera of Vigilius (1555) and a Commentarius opposing the Christological views of Georg Cassander (1555), this important Sammelband reflects the continuing Catholic polemic against Reformation-era innovations in both Eucharistic theology and Christology.
The vellum is slightly dampstained, lacking part of the bottom closing tie on the front. Some stains and browning throughout. Otherwise in good condition. Ad 1: BM STC German p. 20; USTC 626331; Vander Haeghen II, 6; VD 16 A 1871; cf. Adams 173 (1530 ed.); Ad 2: Adams V 748; BM STC German p. 893; USTC 615055; VD 16 V 1184.