Like our 1475 Summa Theologiae, this 1480 Summa Theologica by the Italian Dominican bishop Antoninus, or Anthony, of Florence was a theological encyclopedia.

This volume was printed by the renowned Frenchman Nicolas Jenson. Sent to Mainz in 1458 to study the new art of printing with movable type, Jenson took what he learned and set up shop in Paris. Jenson is best remembered as the first printer to use roman typefaces, which were much clearer and more legible than the blackletter or Gothic then in use. Nevertheless, Jenson mostly printed in Gothic typefaces. Tradition dictated that theological and legal works, which were the dominant products of the publishing industry were generally not to be printed in roman.

Many, though not all, of the initials and paragraph marks have been drawn in in red or blue ink. The one exception is the first large initial space, which remains blank, except for the ownership mark left by the Capuchins of Picburge (perhaps Biburg in lower Bavaria). Another ownership mark of Martinus Wickflattus on the prior leaf is dated 1500.