theoretical arguments in real-life are evident in every way. The first section of the treatise deals with the duty of restitution, referring to hundreds of cases of commercial frauds, contractual instances and conflicts between creditors and debtors; the second part is instead devoted to the widespread practice of usury and its evil consequences” (ibid.). The second work, authored by the archbishop of Florence and Dominican friar Antoninus Florentinus (1389–1459), was first published in Venice in 1474, with editions following in Mantua in about 1475, Rome in 1476, and this Venice edition of 1480, the last edition of the 15th century. Antoninus Florentinus wrote widely in theology and had a great reputation for learning across Europe. The text is an extract from his Summa theologica part III, to which were added several relevant papal bulls of recent date. Provenance: front pastedown with the 18th- century book label of Louis-Cosmé-Damian Rolandin of Marseilles, and the gilt book label of the Franco- German banker and noted book collector Hans Fürstenberg (1890–1982). Fürstenberg “was not only one of the best-known book collectors of his time, but an almost emblematic figure of the Central European Haute Bourgeoisie, its culture, its international ramifications, and its precarious survival into a new age” (Breslauer, p. 427). The economic aspect of the Opus restitutionum is perhaps what appealed to Fürstenberg. Aside from his own role as a banker, “in his younger years, Fürstenberg published a great deal on financial and economic questions of the day, including two or three books, and about 70 articles in newspapers and periodicals up to 1938” (ibid., p. 440). 2 works in 1 volume, quarto (223 × 164 mm). 18th-century calf, spine ruled and lettered in gilt “Platea 1480”, covers panelled in blind with foliate rolls, red speckled edges. First work bound without initial and with terminal blank, second with initial blank. Both works with contemporary annotations in the same hand, second work partly foliated in 18th/19th-century hand. Binding attractive and firm, with neat restoration at spine and joint ends, and slight wear at tips and head of spine. First work: contents clean and fresh with slight worming in fore margin of first few leaves; an excellent copy. Second work: slight browning, soiling, and small running wormhole at head towards rear, small chip to fore margin of terminal leaf; a very good copy. ¶ Books that Made Europe, p. 26 (for Platea, 1472 Venice edition); Goldsmiths’ 1 (ditto); BMC V 227 & 236; Goff P758 & A777; ISTC ip00758000 & ia00777000. B. H. Breslauer, “Jean Furstenberg [ sic ], 1890–1982: Portrait of a Bibliophile”, in The Book Collector , Winter 1982. £15,000 [154417]
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136 PLATEA, Franciscus de. Opus restitutionum, usurarum et excommunicationum; [bound with] ANTONINUS FLORENTINUS. De censuris ecclesiasticis, sive de excommunicationibus. Venice: Johannes de Colonia and Johannes Manthen, 1477 & 1480 ONE OF THE EARLIEST PRINTED WORKS ON ECONOMICS Early edition of one of the first printed books on an economic subject, a vigorous condemnation of usury by the Franciscan theologian Franciscus de Platea (died c .1460). The work was first published in Venice in 1472. The Padua edition, also of 1472, is the earliest book in the vast Goldsmiths’ catalogue of economic literature.
“The Opus enjoyed a large diffusion in Europe at the time; eight subsequent editions [following the first] appeared in the fifteenth century. The treatise was reprinted, without substantial changes, in Padua (about 1472 – the Goldsmiths’ copy – and 1473), Venice and Cologne (1474), Cracow (1475), Paris (1476 and 1477), Venice (1477) [this edition] and finally Speyer (1489)” ( Books that Made Europe ). “In the early modern age, money lending became a central question in the economic debate of the time . . . Platea is firm in his absolute condemnation according to biblical and natural law: usury is an infamous sin, and the usurers – as he declares in the third and last section of his work – must be excommunicated” (ibid.). “The preliminary and detailed tabula shows the extent of the treatise, which examines each aspect of the topic with a variety of examples. Both the intimate connection between business and ethics and the impact of these apparently
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