Bible in Spanish

4to (9 5/8 x 6 1/4 in.; 244 x 159mm). Title-page with woodcut printer's device of a bear cub raiding a beehive, one full-page woodcut plate and one woodcut text vignette, numerous woodcut initials; lower margin of title-page renewed, few leaves with marginal restoration, some occasional soiling and staining, but generally a clean copy.  Modern brown calf gilt, edges gilt, marbled endpapers.

Formatting the Word of God 6.6; Darlow & Moule 8472

Condition as described in catalogue entry.
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.
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La Biblia del Oso or "Bear Bible," the earliest edition of the complete Bible in Castilian Spanish. The translator was Cassisoro de Reina (ca. 1520–94) of Seville, who fled the Spanish Inquisition in 1557 and preached to Spanish Protestants in London, Antwerp, and Frankfurt-am-Main. The publisher and printer of his bible are not named within the book, but the copy Reina presented to the University of Basel in 1569 was inscribed with the name of the printer Thomas Guarinus and the printer's device is that which appeared in other books printed by the Apiarius family of Bern.

Reina's "Bear bible" derives it nickname from the famous woodcut on the title, which shows a bear helping himself to honey from a hive. The bear was the emblem of Apiarius's native city state, Bern, and the bees are a reference to his family name. Other works printed by Apianus with this device also include the legend from Psalm 119: "how sweet are they words unto my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" Here one finds instead the Hebrew and Spanish versions of Isaiah 40:8, a passage dear to Martin Luther: "The word of our God shall stand forever."