New Testament in Greek & Latin, ed. Erasmus

Median Folio (308 × 212 mm). Collation: aaa⁶ bbb⁸ (title-page with device, dedications, tractates of Erasmus: Paraclesis, Methodus, Apologia); A-Z AA-DD⁶ (Gospels, Acts); a-h⁶ i⁸ k-n⁶ (Pauline Epistles), o-t⁶ (Catholic Epistles, Apocalypse; t6 blank); [1], u-z aa-mm⁶ nn⁸ oo-zz Aa-Ee⁶ Ff⁸ (Annotationes, Jo. Oecolampadius to the reader, errata; Ff8r: quire register, colophon, device, verso blank): 495 leaves. A1v-DD6v paginated 2-324, a1v-Ff6r paginated 2-“625” [for 675], with errors. Greek, Roman and (in Annotationes) Hebrew types, woodcut headpieces, borderpieces (Urs Graf), and initials; the headpiece and initials on a1r, Pauline epistles, printed in red. Title-page soiled and reinforced at inner margin of verso. Contemporary Netherlandish calf over wooden boards, two fore-edge clasps, edges plain; rebacked, the upper cover very worn with losses. 

mag. Arnoldus Halderen — his gift to the Charterhouse of Wesel (title-page inscription) — Devon & Essex Institution (booklabel)

Formatting the Word of God 5.2a; Darlow & Moule 4591; Adams B1679; Printing and the Mind of Man 46

Median Folio (308 × 212 mm). Collation: aaa6 bbb8 (title-page with device, dedications, tractates of Erasmus: Paraclesis, Methodus, Apologia); A-Z AA-DD6 (Gospels, Acts); a-h6 i8 k-n6 (Pauline Epistles), o-t6 (Catholic Epistles, Apocalypse; t6 blank); [1], u-z aa-mm6 nn8 oo-zz Aa-Ee6 Ff8 (Annotationes, Jo. Oecolampadius to the reader, errata; Ff8r: quire register, colophon, device, verso blank): 495 leaves. A1v-DD6v paginated 2-324, a1v-Ff6r paginated 2-"625" [for 675], with errors. Greek, Roman and (in Annotationes) Hebrew types, woodcut headpieces, borderpieces (Urs Graf), and initials; the headpiece and initials on a1r, Pauline epistles, printed in red. Title-page soiled and reinforced at inner margin of verso. Contemporary Netherlandish calf over wooden boards, two fore-edge clasps, edges plain; rebacked, the upper cover very worn with losses.
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First edition in Greek, with a parallel Latin translation by Erasmus modified from the traditional Vulgate text. Erasmus dedicated the edition, with permission, to Pope Leo X, and Maximilian I granted a four-year privilege that covered both reprinting within his territories, and the import of any competing edition. This effectively embargoed the New Testament volume of the Complutensian Polyglot (Alcalà), finished at the press in 1514, but not permitted for sale until 1520. Erasmus had written much of the accompanying Annotationes during his Cambridge years, 1511-1514. Although Froben’s colophon is dated February 1516, Erasmus’s authorial colophon to the Annotationes is dated 1 March (M.D.XVI. kalendis Martij).