Biblia Latina. Venice: Franciscus Renner, 1480, 4to.
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THE SECOND BIBLE PRINTED IN QUARTO FORMAT, preceded only by the very rare 4to 1475 de Ferratis imprint (of which only 14 copies survive), not to be confused with the folio imprint of the same year. The 1480 Scotus quarto imprint of 31st May 1480 was printed after this edition according to Goff. BMC records that this edition was printed in both folio and quarto, here being the desirable quarto version.
An exceptionally clean, bright, and fresh example, beautifully rubricated throughout, with particularly fine entrance capitals, printed by the innovative Venetian printer Franciscus Renner, the pioneer of the convenient quarto format who printed another quarto edition in 1483, a format which became very prevalent among Venetian incunable Bibles across the 1480s and the period leading up to the reformation, being very successful in disseminating the text of the Bible in a convenient format. This Bible was among the very first intended for private use rather than the more typical large ecclesiastical/monastic use of the preceding folio editions, and thus is very important in the spreading of the Biblical text in the pre-reformation period, more than a decade earlier than Froben's octavo Bible of 1491. This is a very fine copy, bright and clean, beautifully rubricated throughout in a contemporary hand, one of the finest conditions one will ever encounter an incunable Bible in, especially of a format typically conducive to extended use.
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Size: 161 x 229 mm (approx.)
Condition:
[(2), a¹⁰, b–h¹⁰, i–l¹², m–s¹⁰, t–v¹², x–z¹⁰, 1–6¹⁰, 7–10¹², i1–i3¹⁰, i4¹², i5–i7¹⁰, i8¹², A¹², B¹², C¹², D¹¹]
468 of 470 leaves, lacking the final blank (D¹², as often), and b1 which is supplemented in a neat circa 17th century hand. Leaf edge repairs to the first gathering (a), not affecting text, some minor staining in places with very sporadic contemporary marginalia, else exceptionally bright and clean throughout the text block. Very attractive rubricated capitals throughout the entire text, including an 18 line entrance initial for Genesis, and a 15 line entrance initial for the Prologue. Repair to a1 with minor loss of text near fore edge (pictured). The substantial index at the rear collates as complete. The collation after the alphabetical signatures is atypical, being signed numerically, but collates complete through these quires nonetheless. Later full vellum with marbled endpapers, 'biblia' and 1480 written in Roman to spine. Very attractive on the shelf indeed. The binding is secure and stands without shelf lean with both boards securely attached. Some pencil writing to ffep recto dated 1980. A genuinely excellent incunable Bible, particularly remarkable for being an exceptionally early quarto format Latin Bible.
[USTC 999297; Goff B-566; HC 3078*; Pell 2300; Polain (B) 653; BMC V, 195; GW 4241; ISTC ib00566000].
