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The text knew a great popularity: a century after it was written, there
were already about 800 copied manuscripts and about 100 printed editions in
early 1500 (von Habsburg 2011: 1, 49-50). The first printed version dates to
1472 (Augsburg, Benedictine Abbey of St. Ulrich and Afra), just one year
after the death of Kempis. At the time, there were copies both in Latin and
in vernacular languages.
The manuscript that contains the reference to the name of Thomas a
Kempis (Finitus et completus anno
domini m.cccc.xli. per manus fratris thome kempis in monte sacncte agnetis prope
zwollis) is from 1441 and it is located at the Real Biblioteca de
Bruxelas (MS 5855-61). See Creasy, 2007: ix, xx.
In the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, there are some
copies:
- ALC. 71//3, Veneza (1486);
- INC. 281, Milão (1488);
- INC. 972 e INC. 1369, Veneza (1496/97).
Online there
are several editions, including a 1492 incunabula:
A KEMPIS, THOMAS (1492). Imitatio Christi
(e GERSON, Johannes. De meditatione cordis). Nuremberga: Anton Koberger.
THOMAS (1867), De imitatione Christi libri
quatuor. Londres:
MacMillan (Williams et Norgate).
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