Justinianus Lot n° 208

[Corpus iuris civilis: Institutiones, with the Glossa ordinaria of Franciscus Accursius]. Basel, Michael Wenssler, 7. VII. 1487. Gr.-fol. text and commentary printed in two columns; 77-79 lines and header. 355 foliated Roman leaves (without the first white leaf; quire numbering: a2-10, b-z10, A-M10, N6). Rubrication and initials printed in red throughout. On the first leaf a small miniature with the portrait of the Emperor.Leather binding of the period over very thick wooden boards, covers with simple stroked iron decoration (fittings missing; clasps renewed; tear at capital; leather cover heavily worn at corners). ISTC ij00580800 (lists 31 copies, none in USA; 5 of them incomplete). GKW 7734. BMC III 731 (IC.37131). VdH 5.52. Not in Goff. Second edition of the Institutiones of Emperor Justinian published by Wenssler, a faithful copy of the edition first published in 1475. The Corpus iuris civilis, compiled by a large number of legal scholars at the behest of the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I (482-565), was intended to purify and consolidate the law. The Institutions are one part of the four-part corpus, the other parts of which are the Codex Justinianus, the Novellae and the Digesta. These Intsitutiones were a kind of training manual for prospective jurists. Despite some traces of moisture, a good copy of this monumental print. Numerous handwritten marginalia in a contemporary hand in the text and margins. Small, only slightly disturbing wormholes throughout the volume. Torn corner of first leaf; also library stamp of Halle University Library and erasure stamp "Duplum Biblioth. Acad. Halens. Vend.". On the inside cover a longer handwritten entry by Baron Per Hierta, Främmestad, dated 1891. Very rare; I can only find a single copy in an auction of Joseph A. Baer in Frankfurt a.M., 1930.