De origine salariorum et stipendiorum litterariorum dissertatio...add. III. VIIIbr. MDCXLVI horis locoq[ue] consuetis...

by Johann Christfried Sagittarius (Praeses) | David Lindner (Respondens)

Jena: Georg Sengenwald and Kaspar Freyschmidt, 1646 [1647?]

[28] p. | 4to | pi^2(pi1+A-C^4) | 181 x 143 mm

Probably the first and only edition of this dissertation on the history of pay for the learned, perhaps with a second-state title leaf. We suspect the 1666 edition in WorldCat (859246880) stems from a misread roman numeral. (Who hasn’t accidentally transposed an X and L?) At least one of the two 1647 issues matches our 1646 setting exactly, the only difference in the year of examination in the title, this probably a compositor’s error. The other 1647 issue matches our extent, but fails to specify the day of examination, which was slated for the seventh month instead of the eighth (VD17 12:134346Z). We imagine this was the earliest state of the title, produced before the final examination date was settled. ¶ The dissertation explores the ancient origins of compensation for erudite individuals, opening with a thorough etymological analysis of salary and stipend. Treatment then moves on to the salaries for professors of various disciplines, still with an ancient focus (leaf B1r: specie salaria singularum Facultatum, Artium et Disciplinarum Professoribus constituta perpendamus). Not confined to the literati alone, the author addresses salaries for judges, lawyers, and provincial leaders (provinciarum praesides; leaf B2v). Classical sources abound, Greek and Hebrew included, but the work of more recent scholars also features (Joseph Scaliger and Adrian Turnèbe, for example). For all its ancient focus, the text is not entirely bereft of commentary on contemporary salaries: “The most excellent Elector Augustus was not accustomed to lesser beneficence toward eager students of letters, of which there is no small number today at either academy (Wittenberg and Leipzig), where the most magnificent stipends are enjoyed” (leaf C3v: laudatissimus Elector, Augustus…). With several verse encomia for candidate Lindner on the final leaf, the last by his bestie—amicus primarius, which we love. ¶ An intriguing product of one graduate student’s preoccupation with his predecessors’ pay—or perhaps more likely his adviser’s preoccupation. We can only imagine the brooding conversation that led to this dissertation topic. ¶ We find no copies in North America.

PROVENANCE: A single bibliographic note on the rear fly-leaf, citing the 1872 sale catalogue of Léon Laborde.

CONDITION: Quarter leather and marbled boards of the late 19th or early 20th century; title in gold on the spine; marbled endpapers; red ribbon marker. ¶ Leaves darkened, some with mild marginal dampstaining. An inch of loss at the tail of the spine, two inches at the head; extremities lightly worn.

REFERENCES: VD17 32:623813N

Item #377