Author: KLOSTERDRÜCKEREI EINSIEDELN (printer publisher ) - [ ] ANTIPHONARIUM - DESSAIN Publishers MECHELEN :
Title: Antiphonarium Monasticum ad ritum breviarii Benedictini et ad normam cantus a S. Gregorio Magno instituti, secundum exemplaria antiquissima Roma allata. Pro universali confirmitate introducendâ , & conservandâ; (with 3 supplementa)
Description: .: Einsiedeln, Monasterio Einsidlensi, 1681, format in-folio (48 x 30 cm) uncut copy. (4) nn pp (title, prefatio) + 482 pp + 60 pp (supplementum I) + xx pp (suppl. II = Proprium Monas. Einsied.) + (14) nn pp (suppl. III = manuscript Prop. Ord. Cisterciensis). The composition of the book has been extensively changed after the printing. The first quire (a1-4) (page numbering i-viii) is bound after pp. 320. From pp. 300 onwards the printed page numbering partly in Latin digits and further on in Arabic is replaced with manuscript page numbering.. The book is uncut and never received a binding (only a blind wrapper). It is printed on very strong paper, entirely in red & black, The scores have 7 staves per page, The book is in good condition, only the title leaf is dust soiled and with some old stains. This is a unique copy of an already very rare book. Printed in Switserland (Einsiedeln) in 1681 it served in the 19th c. as a print example of a new antiphonarium edition envisaged by the Mechlin (Mechelen - Malines) printer Pierre Dessain. A family member of Pierre (Henri Dessain) had acquired in 1855 from Pierre Jean Hanicq the papal privilege to print and publish Roman Catholic liturgy books. Hanicq had obtained this privilege from the venerable Plantin-Moretus press in Antwerp which had hold it for nearly 2 centuries. Our copy contains many manuscript notations, and even complete manuscript pages added. On the title page the new editor wrote a note which indicates that he intended to use this book for a reworked edition; to be published: ''In Mechlinae, 1867''. Some of the pages e.g. pp 400 have additions consisting of complete staves; the remarks for the typographer are in French. Especially the first supplementum contains many corrections, some , a the bottom of the page later cut out again. Dessain published an antiphonarium for the use of the Dominican Order. We gather that this (semi) manuscript never became a book. This copy offers us a unique glimpse of the 19th c. editorial publication usage for an important music publication of the Roman Catholic Liturgy. .

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