Folio (302 x 220 mm). 28 ff., ccxlvii ff., [1] f. Printed in double columns in gothic type, in Latin and Valencian, with large woodcut arms of Valencia on the title, woodcut portrait of Jaume I, woodcut borders and initials. Twentieth-century stiff vellum, raised bands to spine, covers with double gilt fillet, spine tooled in gilt with red lettering-piece (somewhat soiled). Last leaves with loss at lower margin, slightly affecting a woodcut; a1 remargined at upper margin and trimmed with some loss; f. cxvii remargined; occasional foxing and toning; overall a good copy, with numerous contemporary annotations and underlining, together with further annotations in a seventeenth-century hand.

The Aureum Opus is thus both an early printed witness to one of the foundational narratives of medieval Valencia and an important documentary record of its political and legal institutions. Jaume I conquered Valencia in 1238 and established the Kingdom of Valencia within the Crown of Aragon. The privileges collected here, extending from the thirteenth to the early sixteenth century, preserve the successive royal concessions upon which many of the kingdom's institutions and liberties rested. Modern scholarship has consequently described the book as an important political instrument in the defence of Valencian interests in the early sixteenth century.

The book is also one of the notable productions of Diego de Gumiel, who printed it at Valencia in 1515. Its considerable programme of woodcut decoration includes the large arms of Valencia on the title, a portrait of Jaume I, historiated borders, ornamental initials and Gumiel's device. Contemporary scholarship specifically notes that Gumiel's reputation rests in part upon his printing of the Aureum Opus.

Of particular interest in the present copy are the extensive early annotations and underlining, supplemented by notes in a seventeenth-century hand, evidence of the continued consultation and use of the volume over a substantial period.

The book was already highly prized by 19th century bibliophiles: Heredia described it as an “ouvrage de la plus grande rareté.”

Provenance: Dolphin Rare Books; by descent to the present owners.

Norton 1248; Palau 19670; Heredia 3214; CCPB 152243.