BIBLE,PSALTER, POLYGLOT, COLOGNE, 1518, LATER MARBLED CALF GILT, LUTON PARK COPY

Chancery folio (270 x 195mm.), title within arabesque woodcut border, Greek, Roman, Ethiopic and Hebrew types, three woodcut ornamental initals (Latin, Greek, Hebrew) for Psalm 1, without blank leaf &6, some manuscript annotations in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, late eighteenth-century English tree calf gilt, gilt monogram stamped on covers, flat spine gilt, red edges, green silk page marker, lacking final quire with the grammar of Hebrew, Greek and Ethiopic, title-page slightly soiled and repaired in gutter, a few stains, binding slightly rubbed, rebacked retaining most of original spine

Luton Library, armorial bookplate; sale, Sotheby's, 17 June 1999, lot 201

Darlow & Moule 1413; VD16 B3101

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The editor, Johann Potken, was provost of the collegiate church of St Georg in Cologne. His address to the reader states that during his long years in Rome he had learned the Ethiopic language (which he calls Chaldean) from Ethiopic pilgrims to the court of Leo X. While in Rome he had already commissioned an Ethiopic Psalter, with specially cut types, to be printed there by Marcellus Silber in 1513, and the type then passed into the possession of Soter in Cologne. Potken must also have known the 1516 Genoa Polyglot Psalter: the title-border of the Cologne edition is closely modelled on the Genoese one.