Lot 28
  • 28

Bible in Latin

Estimate
50,000 - 70,000 USD
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Description

  • A leaf from the Gutenberg Bible. [Mainz: Johann Gutenberg and Johann Fust, 1455]
  • paper, ink, leather
Royal folio (391 × 286 mm). A single leaf, being volume I, fo. 88 (quire 9, leaf 8), containing Deuteronomy 6:16-8:15. 2 columns, 42 lines; initial spaces. Handsomely rubricated in red and blue. The leaf includes a Bull’s Head watermark. Edges of leaf red-stained from preceding binding. Black morocco binding gilt-titled on upper cover (Stikeman), including A. Edward Newton’s accompanying essay, A Noble Fragment, 1921. 

Provenance

Unidentified German convent or church — Court Library of Mannheim — Royal Library of Munich — Robert Curzon, 1810-1870, 14th Baron Zouche, by descent to — Mary Cecil Curzon Frankland, 1877-1965, 17th Baroness Zouche (from 1917), sold via Sotheby’s, 9 November 1920, lot 70 — [Frank Sabin; Gabriel Wells]

Literature

Formatting the Word of God 2.1; Goff B-526; GW 4201; BMC I 17 (IC.55); BSB-Ink B-408; Bod-inc B-237. Censuses: De Ricci Mayence 34.53=78; Schwenke 37; Needham P18; Folter 45

Condition

Royal folio (391 × 286 mm). A single leaf, being volume I, fo. 88 (quire 9, leaf 8), containing Deuteronomy 6:16-8:15. 2 columns, 42 lines; initial spaces. Handsomely rubricated in red and blue. The leaf includes a Bull's Head watermark. Edges of leaf red-stained from preceding binding. Black morocco binding gilt-titled on upper cover (Stikeman), including A. Edward Newton's accompanying essay, A Noble Fragment, 1921.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

First edition of the Bible in Latin, and the first substantial European printed book, produced under the temporary partnership of Johann Gutenberg, inventor of European typography, and Johann Fust, a well-off Mainz lawyer. Production of the edition of more than 640 leaves presumably took several years and a team of workmen. The humanist Aeneas Sylvius, Latin secretary of Emperor Fredrick III, saw sample sheets of the Bible at the Imperial diet in Frankfurt am Main, in late October or early November 1454, and again at Wiener Neustatt in March 1455, from where he wrote about the amazing production to his friend Cardinal Carvajal in Rome. Copies were printed in separate issues of paper and vellum, in a total edition of 180 copies, and were widely distributed. Forty-nine copies of varying completeness survive today, as well as a considerable number of leaves of binding waste, particularly of otherwise lost vellum copies. The present leaf comes from an imperfect copy purchased in 1832 from the Munich Royal Library by the English traveller Robert Curzon. It was sold at Sotheby’s in November 1920, and acquired by New York bookdealer Gabriel Wells, who broke it up and sold most of it as single leaves, accompanied by an essay A Noble Fragment by the Philadelphia bibliophile A. Edward Newton, a few integral books being sold as such (Genesis at University of Illinois, Gospel of Matthew at Colgate University, and other).