198 leaves (incl. front blank). A4, a10, b-f8, g6, h8, i-n6, o-u8, x-z6, z6, c6, h8, aa6. Text in two columns, gothic types. (folio) 11¾x8¼, 18th century half calf & speckled boards.
The first part of St. Thomas Aquinas's great work, the culmination of scholastic philosophy, the harmony of faith and reason. This first part is often considered the most important, his considerations of God. With the old bookplate of W.H.H. Newman of Buffalo, N.Y., and the more recent small leather bookplate of Estelle Doheny. The Doheny library was legendary, formed with the riches of her husband, oil tycoon Edward L. Doheny, Sr., a principal in the Teapot Dome Scandal. The character Vern Roscoe in Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel Oil! (the inspiration for the 2007 film There Will Be Blood) is loosely based on Doheny. Two old booksellers' catalog entries affixed to the front pastedown. Laid into the volume is a small typed card, of the St. Mary's of the Barrens Rare Book Collection, Perryville, Missouri, indicating the book to the "A perfect copy of a rare edition, only two copies of which are recorded in this country." Indeed, OCLC/WorldCat lists only two copies of this edition, at the Huntington Library and the Newberry Library. Goff T-199.
Condition:
Covers rubbed and worn, spine worn, joints repaired; light dampstaining to first 4 leaves, top margin of the first half of the contents with small and light dampstain, very minor worming to some of the gutter margins, still in very good condition, the contents quite clean and fresh, a rare incunabular printing of one of the most influential medieval religious philosophers.