Pitts recently added to its growing collection of incunables (books printed before 1501) a 1479 lexical manual for preachers and clergy. The Latin book, titled Mammotrectus super Bibliam (“Nourisher on the Bible”), printed by Nicolas Jensen in Venice, contains etymological and grammatical explanations of words found in the Bible, along with the liturgical hours, arranged in the order of the Bible and the church year. Its author, John Marchesinus, was a Franciscan friar in Italy, likely living in the late 13th or early 14th century, who lamented the lack of education amongst clergy and the poor quality of preaching that resulted from it.

The first word in the title, mammotrectus, denotes “mother’s milk” (i.e. nourishment regarding the Bible), and the term had been used by Augustine in his commentary on the Psalms. Marchesinus himself explains the term to mean “led by a pedagogue.” This work would become one of the most important Franciscan books of the late Middle Ages.

Are you interested in seeing this and other rare books in the Pitts Special Collections? You can make an appointment any time the reading room is open. You can also learn about the Pitts incunable collection by checking out the Spring 2023 exhibition, “This Sacred Art,” curated by Pitts’ Head of Special Collections Brandon Wason.

By Armin Siedlecki, Head of Cataloging and Rare Book Cataloger