Bible. New Testament. Greek.

folio (342 x 214mm.), ruled in red, woodcut device on title-pages and final verso, woodcut initials and headpieces, woodcut borders for the kanoneV, seventeenth-century calf gilt, centre- and cornerpieces composed of foliate sprays and small flower stamps, spine gilt in compartments, gilt edges, a small leaf containing facsimiles of a section of Greek text from the Complutensian Polyglot and the Codex Montfortii inserted between L3-4, a few small stains, rebacked, extremities slightly rubbed

Ysamberi Prof. Reg.; Claudius Fleury presb. Paris. 1685, inscriptions at foot of title-page; Bequeathed to the Bishopric of Cornwall by the Rev. Franke Parker, M.A., Rector of Luffincott, Devon, 1883, bookplate

It is possible that this copy was owned by the cleric and scholar Claude Fleury (1640-1723), tutor to the sons of the Prince de Conti and later confessor to Louis XV. He wrote a lengthy and respected Histoire ecclésiastique (Paris, 1691) and was elected to the Académie Française in 1696.

Darlow & Moule 4622; Delaveau & Hillard 3690; Renouard, Estienne, p.75; Schreiber 105

This edition, known as the Editio regia, includes critical apparatus in the margins indicating variant readings taken from manuscripts (including the Codex Bezae) and the Complutensian Polyglot. However, the variant readings brought Robert Estienne into trouble with the Sorbonne, who viewed any change to the divine word as heretical. Estienne removed himself and his press to Geneva, where the firm became well established. This critical edition was used as the basis for the textus receptus and was particularly influential in England.