Lot 351

Bible, Latin, Vulgate, Venice, 1498





Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs
Auction: 4 May 2016 at 12:00 BST
Description
Biblia, cum tabula nuper impressa [et] cum summariis noviter editis. Impressum Venetijs : P[er] Symonem dictu[m] Beuilaqua, 1498, die octauo Maij [Venice: Simon Bevilaqua, 8 May 1498]. 4to., (205 x 151mm.), 528 leaves, 51 lines and headline, Gothic letter, printed in double columns, 73 woodcuts, woodcut initials, large woodcut printer's device on verso of final leaf, 19th century vellum gilt, red morocco lettering piece, ownership inscription deleted from title, very small holes to extreme upper margin of title and to fore-margin of final leaf (not affecting text), large woodcut on verso of a10v partly hand-coloured, a few leaves lightly dampstained, mainly marginal
Footnote
Provenance: The Earls of Lovelace, Torridon House, Wester Ross
Note: Printed by Simon Bevilaqua (active 1485–1518), with large woodcuts depicting the 6 days of Creation on leaf a10v, and Solomon asleep on B1r, and 71 woodcut illustrations from blocks used in Ragazzo's Malermi Bible.
This Venetian edition of 1498 was the first edition of the Vulgate Bible to be illustrated throughout with woodcuts introducing each book. As this edition demonstrates, by the end of the fifteenth century, contemporary readers could consult a carefully edited single-volume Latin Bible that included extensive woodcut illustration, printed initials, chapter numbers, book headlines, marginal references, chapter divisions, and additional readers’ aids. With the table of Gabriello Bruno. Reference: BM 15th cent., V, p. 522; Goff B-603.




