The Decretum

Leaf from the Decretum Gratiani. Mainz: Peter Schoeffer, 1492. A single vellum leaf from Peter Schoeffer’s 1492 edition of the Decretum Gratiani, preserved within a later presentation volume. The leaf measures 475 × 332 mm and is printed on both sides in four columns of approximately 50–52 lines in Schoeffer’s Gothic type. The layout includes the standard glossing structure of the Decretum, with the main text in the central columns and marginal commentary in narrower outer columns. Rubrication is extensive and contemporary: red and blue initials, alternating paragraph markers, and rubricated section headings such as D.V, D.VI, and D.VII, written by the rubricator in red and blue inks at the upper margin. Printed guide letters remain visible beneath several initials. The leaf corresponds to Distinctio V–VI, including canons such as “Cuilibet sacerdoti…”, confirmed through comparison with the Munich digital copy and ISTC ig00362000. This leaf was originally issued as part of the bibliophilic publication Two Essays on the Decretum of Gratian by Hellmut Lehmann-Haupt and Charles McCurry, each copy of which included a genuine leaf from Schoeffer’s 1492 printing. Provenance prior to its inclusion in the Lehmann-Haupt & McCurry volume is unknown.