Catholicon.

Title from incipit rubric (leaf [1]/1): Incipit su[m]ma que vocatur catholicon. edita a f[rat]re ioh[ann]e de ianua. ordinis fr[atre]m p[rae]dicato[rum].
Colophon (leaf [39]/3r): Hic liber egregius. catholicon. d[omi]nice incarnacionis annis Mcccclx Alma in urbe maguntina nacionis inclite germanice. Quam dei clemencia tam alto ingenij lumine. donoq[ue] g[ra]tuito. ceteris terrar[um] nacionibus preferre. illustrareq[ue] dignatus est. Non calami, stili, aut penne suffragio, s[ed] mira patronar[um] formar[um]q[ue] concordia p[ro]porcione et modulo, impressus atq[ue] confectus est. [Verse:] Hinc tibi sancte pater nato cu[m] flamine sacro. / Laus et honor d[omin]o trino tribuatu[r] et uno / Ecclesie laude libro hoc catholice plaude / Qui laudare piam semper non linque mariam. / DEO. GRACIAS.
Printed in type 1:82G attributed to the Catholicon press (Johann Gutenberg?).
Other ISTC imprint data: [Johann Gutenberg?], 1460; [between 1460 and about 1472].
Collation: [1-6¹⁰ 7⁴ 8-19¹⁰ 20⁴(4+1: manus cum suis); 21-38¹⁰ 39⁴]: 373 leaves.
Paper format: Royal folio
Three issues can be distinguished in spite of identical typesetting: a) printed on vellum or Bull's Head paper; b) on Galliziani paper; c) on Tower & Crown paper. This has given rise to the theory that issue a) was printed in 1460, issue b) in 1469 and issue c) about 1472; see Paul Needham, "Johann Gutenberg and the Catholicon Press," Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America 76 (1982): 395-456 and the following articles in "Zur Catholicon-Forschung," Wolfenbütteler Notizen zur Buchgeschichte 13 (1988): 105-232: James C. Thomas, "Die Umdatierung eines Wolfenbütteler Frühdruckes des Ackermann aus Böhmen (GW 193) aufgrund beta- und elektronenradiographischer Untersuchungen seiner Papierwasserzeichen," 106-24; Gerhardt Powitz, "Das Catholicon in buch- und textgeschichtlicher Sicht," 125-37; Martin Boghardt, "Die bibliographische Erforschung der ersten Catholicon-Ausgabe(n)," 138-76; Claus W. Gerhardt, "Der Doppelzeilendruck des Catholicon-Druckers von 1460," 177-86; Rolf Stümpel, "Überlegungen zum zweizeiligen Satz des Catholicon," 187-98; Paul Needham, "The Catholicon Press of Johann Gutenberg: A Hidden Chapter in the Invention of Printing," 199-230; Lotte Hellinga, "The Catholicon: Hypotheses or Solutions," 231-2. For an alternative theory that all three states were printed ca. 1469, but in three different print shops, the lines composed of movable type having been tied together two and two, see Lotte Hellinga, "Analytical Bibliography and the Study of Early Printed Books with a case-study of the Mainz Catholicon," Gutenberg Jahrbuch 64 (1989): 47-96; Lotte Hellinga, "Slipped Lines and Fallen Type in the Mainz Catholicon," Gutenberg Jahrbuch 67 (1992): 35-40; and the response by Paul Needham, "Slipped Lines in the Mainz Catholicon: A Second Opinion," Gutenberg Jahrbuch 68 (1993): 25-9. See also Anke Böhm, "Das Psalterium Moguntinum. Kann man aufgrund von Satzvarianten verschiedene Auflagen erschliessen?," Gutenberg Jahrbuch 64 (1989): 30-8; Lotte Hellinga, "Comments on Paul Needham's Notes," Gutenberg Jahrbuch 65 (1990): 65-9; Paul Needham, "Corrective Notes on the Date of the Catholicon Press," Gutenberg Jahrbuch 65 (1990): 46-64; Paul Needham, "Further Corrective Notes on the Date of the Catholicon Press," Gutenberg Jahrbuch 66 (1991): 101-26; Lotte Hellinga, "Das Mainzer 'Catholicon' und Gutenbergs Nachlass. Neudatierung und Auswirkungen," AGB 40 (1993): 395-416; see also the summary of the debate in CIBN B-13 (Bod-inc).
PML 77728 is leaf [19]/10 (leaf 184) of issue a, printed on bull's head paper and thus dated to 1460.
PML copy leaf dimensions: 40.1 x 29.7 cm.