Biblia cum summariorum apparatu pleno quadruplicique repertorio insignita cui ultra castigationem diligentissimam et signanter in vocabulario dictionum Hebraicarum [...]. Lyon: Jacques Mareschal (and Simon Vincent), 1514, 8vo.
A RARE AND LUXURIOUS LATIN OCTAVO BIBLE PRINTED JUST PRIOR TO THE REFORMATION, WITH NO KNOWN COPIES HELD INSTITUTIONALLY IN ALL OF NORTH AMERICA (USTC)!
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Jacques Mareschal printed several octavo and folio Bibles between 1510 and 1532, this octavo Bible being his second printed Bible following his first octavo Bible in 1510, following on from the earlier tradition of Froben (1491, 1495, etc) and particularly the 1509 Basel printing, which this Bible follows quite closely according to D&M. This Bible is important for being a particularly luxurious production with hundreds of historiated capitals printed throughout, as well as a few small in-text illustrations, notably the beautiful small illustrations to Genesis 1 and a beautiful small one to the start of Revelation.
USTC records 32 extant copies held institutionally with NO COPIES HELD IN AMERICA, and only three copies held in the UK. This copy textually collates as complete through the Bible text.
This Bible is part of the start of a tradition of octavo Bibles, following the size format of earlier Books of Hours and their portability and convenience, a tradition begun by Froben in 1491 who printed the first octavo Bible. This embodies the shift towards more portable, accessible Scripture that was popular among early Reformers and humanists such as Melancthon and Reuchlin and various others in the circle of Martin Luther, Erasmus, etc, most notably because of their encouragement of a personal engagement with Scripture which was more readily possible with an octavo size like this.
It is very rare for an octavo Bible of this period to survive in such clean condition, especially given their typical greater usage than typical institutional folio Bibles of this period and earlier. This really is a fantastic early Latin Bible, one of the last printed prior to the Protestant reformation.
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Size: 130 x 172 mm (approx.)
Condition:
[(1), a1-z8, A1-Z8, 2A1-2Q8, 2R4, A1-D8, E6, (1)]
Early 20th century blindstamped leather binding decorated with floral motifs with two clasps, one broken, the other retaining its functionality. The clasps appear to be a bit older than the binding, though may simply be anachronistic. The binding is slightly rubbed, but presents very attractively indeed. The binding is secure with both boards securely attached; the front hinge has been reinforced.
The text collates as complete through the Bible text, though this copy is bound without the preliminary matter and second index as often, including lacking the full page woodcut. The text is numbered fols i-ccccc and also includes the Interpretationes section (unpaginated), which also collates as complete. There's a slight smell to the book, though not of smoke; this seems to be a smell from the leather itself. There's some margin staining to the verso of d8 in the first collation, not obscuring any text and some minor dampstaining in places throughout as one might expect, but generally the text block is in a remarkable state of preservation, extremely clean throughout. There is some sporadic contemporary marginalia, usually just in the form of a '+' or '-' in various places next to the text with some occasional words written in places, but this marginalia is very sporadic and only affects a few leaves throughout the entire text.
A lovely example of a very early octavo Bible printed just prior to the reformation.
[USTC 144246; Copinger 158; Adams B990].
