{"product_id":"johannes-eck-s-chrysopassus-with-a-presentation-inscription-to-the-auxiliary-bishop-of-eichstatt","title":"Johannes Eck’s Chrysopassus with a Presentation Inscription to the Auxiliary Bishop of Eichstätt","description":"\u003ch3\u003eGrace, Predestination, and Free Will Before the Reformation\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEck, Johannes. \u003cem\u003eChrysopassus. […] Lecta est subtilis illa praedestinationis materia Wilhelmo illustris, principe Baioariam gubernante, anno gratiae G. D. XII.\u003c\/em\u003e Augsburg, Miller, 1514. Bound with: Hilarius Pictaviensis. \u003cem\u003eOpera complura Sancti Hylarii Episcopi hac serie coimpressa.\u003c\/em\u003e Paris, Jodocus Badius Ascensius, 1510.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn extraordinary presentation copy of Johannes Eck’s first and principal theological work on grace and predestination, inscribed by Eck in his own hand to the auxiliary bishop of Eichstätt, Fabian Weickmann. The volume further preserves Eck’s large coloured woodcut coat of arms mounted within the book and survives in a contemporary Eichstätt binding identifiable through the famous roll stamp:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“ICH WART DES GLVCKS”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBound together with the first collected edition of the works of Saint Hilary of Poitiers, the volume constitutes a remarkable witness to pre-Reformation Catholic theology immediately before Eck emerged as Martin Luther’s principal theological opponent.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eEdition \u0026amp; Bibliographic Information\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEck: a–c4 A–Y6 Z4 Aa6 Bb4 = 12 preliminary leaves, 136 leaves, 9 index leaves, 1 leaf.\u003cbr\u003eHilarius: Π2 a–l8 m4 n6 A–O8 P–R6 S–V8 X–Y6 = 2 leaves, 97 numbered leaves, 1 leaf, 130 numbered leaves, 35 numbered leaves, 1 blank leaf.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDouble-column printing throughout; titles printed in red and black.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cem\u003eChrysopassus\u003c\/em\u003e contains a magnificent full-page title woodcut by Daniel Hopfer, coloured printer’s device, ornamental initials on black grounds, and Eck’s large coloured woodcut coat of arms mounted onto the half-blank verso of leaf Z4.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Hilary edition includes the famous printer’s device of Jodocus Badius Ascensius, a large historiated thirteen-line initial, and numerous criblé initials throughout. Folio (285 × 201 mm).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003ePhysical Description \u0026amp; Binding\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eContemporary blind-tooled half pigskin over wooden boards, the lower portions of the covers rebacked in calf during the eighteenth century. Spine over four broad raised bands with eighteenth-century title labels in the upper compartments. Covers decorated with blind fillets, lozenge foliage rolls, and individual tools; the rear cover with the prominent roll stamp:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“ICH WART DES GLVCKS”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe binding retains later brass clasps and entirely yellow edges. Some rubbing and worming to the binding; one clasp strap lacking; light dust-soiling to the upper edge. Minor wormholes at beginning and end. Hilary title slightly shaved at upper margin with two nearly erased library stamps. In the Eck text occasional contemporary underlining and marginalia; leaf S2 with small corner loss affecting a few letters.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe binding can be securely attributed to the Eichstätt workshop active during the first quarter of the sixteenth century through the documented roll stamp and associated tools recorded in the \u003cem\u003eEinbanddatenbank\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eJohannes Eck Before Luther\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eImmediately after receiving his doctorate in Freiburg in 1510, the young theologian Johannes Eck (1486–1543) was appointed professor at the University of Ingolstadt by the Bavarian dukes Wilhelm IV and Ludwig X. There he delivered lectures in 1512–13 on grace and predestination, subsequently published in 1514 as the \u003cem\u003eChrysopassus\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe work addresses one of the central theological questions of the age: the relationship between divine grace, predestination, and human free will. Eck defended the doctrine of \u003cem\u003epraedestinatio post praevisa merita\u003c\/em\u003e — the idea that God predestines humanity according to foreseen free actions — thereby granting decisive significance to human free will while preserving divine omnipotence.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis position would later shape Eck’s polemics against the Reformers, particularly Martin Luther. Yet at the moment of publication, the work simultaneously functioned as a political intervention within the dynastic conflicts of the Bavarian ruling house.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eDaniel Hopfer’s Extraordinary Title Woodcut\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eParticularly remarkable is the elaborate title woodcut designed by the Augsburg artist Daniel Hopfer. Structured architecturally like a triumphal portal, the composition visualizes the theological problem of predestination through the biblical figures Jacob and Esau.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJacob appears as shepherd, Esau as warrior with lance and sword. Above them, God the Father descends from the clouds to crown Jacob rather than the firstborn Esau, visually dramatizing divine election and grace. Yet the brothers are not depicted in conflict. Instead, they stand as interlocutors engaged with one another through gesture and posture, perhaps reflecting the negotiated political settlement eventually reached among the Bavarian princes themselves.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe image stands among the most intellectually sophisticated theological title woodcuts of early sixteenth-century Germany.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eFabian Weickmann and the Eichstätt Presentation Copy\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe present copy preserves exceptional evidence of Eck’s personal network-building among influential ecclesiastical figures.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn the title page appears Eck’s autograph presentation inscription:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“D. Fabiano Episcopo Philadelphie […] dono Ioan. Eckii”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe recipient, Fabian Weickmann, had only recently been appointed titular bishop of Philadelphia in Arabia (modern Amman) and auxiliary bishop of Eichstätt in the very year of publication, 1514. Weickmann responded enthusiastically by adding a laudatory quatrain praising Eck on the verso of the title.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe mounted coloured coat of arms inserted near the end of the \u003cem\u003eChrysopassus\u003c\/em\u003e further transformed the book into a carefully staged presentation copy. After Weickmann’s death in 1526, the volume likely entered the episcopal library of Eichstätt, where it was subsequently bound together with the first edition of the works of Saint Hilary of Poitiers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eSaint Hilary and the Defence of Orthodoxy\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe prefixed Hilary volume is itself highly important: the first collected edition of the works of Hilary of Poitiers (c. 315–367), one of the principal defenders of Nicene orthodoxy against Arianism.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eParticularly significant are Hilary’s \u003cem\u003eDe Trinitate\u003c\/em\u003e and biblical commentaries, including his pioneering commentary on Matthew and his influential \u003cem\u003eTractatus super Psalmos\u003c\/em\u003e. For sixteenth-century Catholic theologians confronting emerging doctrinal disputes, Hilary represented one of the great patristic authorities on divine nature, grace, and orthodoxy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eProvenance\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAutograph presentation inscription by Johannes Eck to Fabian Weickmann on title page:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“D. Fabiano Episcopo Philadelphie […] dono Ioan. Eckii”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVerso title with manuscript quatrain praising Eck.\u003cbr\u003eEighteenth-century inscription:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ad Biblioth: aul: Eystettensem”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ewith faded shelfmark and later institutional stamps.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eLiterature\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEck: Adams E 32; BM STC German 452; Breyl 261; Dodgson II, 190\/1 and 191\/1; Graesse II, 460; Metzler 4; Muther 939; Panzer VI, p. 142, no. 71; Proctor 10824; VD16 E 305; Zapf II, p. 75, no. XX.\u003cbr\u003eHilarius: Adams H 549; BM STC French 225; Brunet III, 165; Ebert 9701; Graesse III, 277; Panzer VII, p. 543, no. 377; Renouard 1908 II, 490f.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor a fuller scholarly description and illustrations, see \u003cem\u003eWunderkammer\u003c\/em\u003e Catalogue 90, number 72:\u003cbr\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/issuu.com\/heribert-tenschert\/docs\/katalog_90_vol_2_web?utm_source=chatgpt.com\"\u003eWunderkammer Catalogue 90, Volume II\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Atelier Zweig Rare Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46837893365948,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0736\/1285\/3436\/files\/Chrysopassus-1.png?v=1779160194","url":"https:\/\/atelierzweig.com\/products\/johannes-eck-s-chrysopassus-with-a-presentation-inscription-to-the-auxiliary-bishop-of-eichstatt","provider":"Atelier Zweig Rare Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}