Torah, Neviim, Khetuvim (Complete Hebrew Bible), Venice: Daniel Bomberg, 1517-18

530 leaves (8 ¼ x 5 7/8 in.; 212 x 150 mm) including all blanks, as issued. 29 lines + headline + catchwords ( on versos only). Four sectional title pages; 20 decorative woodcut initial word panels. COLLATION: 1-17⁸, 18⁴, 1-14⁸, 15⁶, 1-14⁸, 15¹⁰, 1-4⁸, 5⁴, 1⁸, 2⁶, 1⁸, 2⁴, 1⁸, 2¹⁰, 1-8⁸, 9⁴, ( )²= 530 leaves.  Burn hole in last six leaves affecting text; last three leaves repaired; some staining at end; minor marginal loss to last folio. English titles lightly penciled in at beginnings of works. A remarkably crisp and clean copy. All edges gilt; marbled endpapers; later tooled brown morocco extra; spine in six compartments.

Duke of Manchester (Kimbolton Castle bookplate), rear pastedown endpaper;

Estelle Doheny (1875-1958), her bookplate, rear pastedown endpaper; sold at auction,10/18/1988, lot 1070;

Purchased at the above sale, and then by descent to present owner.

Vinograd, Venice 7; Steinschneider 29 "rarissima" ; Haberman 9; Isaac 13242; Darlow & Moule 5084; Adams B-1217.

FIRST EDITION OF THE BOMBERG BIBLE IN QUARTO FORMAT; THE SCARCEST OF THE BOMBERG BIBLES

Daniel Bomberg, the celebrated printer of Hebrew books, was renowned for having established the earliest Hebrew press in Venice. Publishing more than 200 books over the course of three decades (1515-1549), his many accomplishments include the printing of the first Mikra'ot Gedolot, a four volume folio-sized Rabbinic Bible with commentaries (1517-18).  Bomberg was sensitive to the market demand for a less expensive edition and also sought to garner customers among those readers (including non-Jews), who were unable to, or simply had no desire to, read the dense and sometimes arcane Hebrew commentaries and appendices featured in the larger volume. To further entice Jewish readers, Bomberg judiciously omitted two elements he had included in the folio edition: the dedication to Pope Leo X, and the identity of the volume’s editor, an apostate named Felix Pratensis. The final, unsigned, bifolium was also clearly added to increase the book’s appeal for Jewish readers. These two leaves list the appropriate haftarah portions (additional readings from the Prophets following the Torah reading on Sabbaths and holidays) for the entire year. To create the quarto edition, Bomberg had his workers remove the set type en bloc from the formes of the folio edition and immediately had it reset and made up again in the smaller quarto format. This edition then, is nothing less than the folio Bible in a less controversial presentation coupled with a more convenient format.  Daniel Bomberg’s innovative marketing strategy proved sufficiently successful that he printed a second quarto edition, a few years later, in 1521.

Based on the clarity of their type and layout, the quarto Bible editions of Daniel Bomberg have long been celebrated as among the most beautiful Bibles published in the sixteenth century. This particularly handsome and remarkably crisp copy was once part of the collection of the Duke of Manchester, and later became the property of the renowned bibliophile, Estelle Doheny.