The first Illustrated Latin Bible
Koberger, Biblia Latina. With the Postilla of Nicolaus de Lyra O.F.M. 1485-1497
THE FIRST ILLUSTRATED LATIN BIBLE
4 volumes in original binding
A monumental and handsomely printed edition in contemporary bindings. Koberger established the first press at Nuremberg in 1470, which was celebrated for printing his illustrated bibles. He is best remembered for his Nuremberg Chronicle of 1492.
This edition contains the respected biblical commentary of the fourteenth-century Franciscan Nicolaus de Lyra (ca. 1270-1349) and of the thirteenth-century Guilelmus Brito, together with the fifteenth-century additions to Lyra by the converted Spanish Jew Paul of Burgos, and Matthias Döring’s rejection of these additions. Both Nicolaus de Lyra and Paul of Burgos emphasised the meaning of the Bible in a literal sense. Besides, Lyra stressed the importance of the Bible in daily life. Lyra’s ‘Postilla litteralis’ was the definitive biblical commentary from the late Middle Ages until the Reformation, and was frequently reprinted throughout the 15th and 16th centuries. Erasmus of Rotterdam used Lyra’s commentary for his edition of the New Testament, but he is often very critical of the work of his predecessor.
Parts I-III are from the first Koberger edition of the Bible (1485), and part IV is from his fourth edition (1497). The first volume contains the prologue, commentaries, and the book of Genesis to 2 Chronicles; volume 2 has Ezra to Ecclesiasticus, volume 3 has Isaiah to 2 Maccabees, and volume 4 has Matthew to Apocalypse, and Nicholas of Lyra’s Questiones iudaicam perfidiam in catholica fide improbantes.
The fine woodcut illustrations in this edition belong correctly to the accompanying Postilla of Nicolaus of Lyra, a text with an illustrated tradition in manuscript. This tradition did not immediately translate into print since the printers of many early editions provided only blank spaces for the illustrations. Koberger was the first to print illustrations for the Postilla as a separate edition in 1481, and the woodcuts in the present edition (I: 26, incl. 4 full-page; III: 13, incl. 4 full-page) are copies of those (some reduced). In turn, they strongly influenced the woodcuts in the first illustrated Bible in Italy. Illustrated are i.a., the vision of Ezechiel and the plans of the temple and Jerusalem.
Binding:
Vols I-III in contemp. blind-stamped leather over wood, covers with arabesques in a central frame surrounded by floral roll-stamps or pomegranates (II: also lozenge-shaped dragons), spines with 3-5 raised bands (old rebackings), fore-edges titled (III also bottom edges), metal catches (I: worn and loosening, leather of covers dam., spine dam. and leather almost gone, clasps gone or only sm. remains; II: clasps gone; III: spine gone, covers with severe loss of leather, clasps gone).
Vol. II with the large blind-stamped gothic title at the top of the front cover.
Vol. III, with a large metal piece with a catch hook at the top of the lower cover, is evidently a relic of the original chained binding.
Vol. IV in a similar but not matching binding with leather-covered boards, covers with roll-stamps (animals or foliage) in or around the central frame, spine with 3 raised bands (somewhat rubbed and worn, front cover loose, old rebacking).
Decoration:
Vol. I: rubricated throughout with red or blue Lombard initials; f. [2]r with large penwork initial ‘h’ on a gilt background; large initial ‘I’ at beginning of Genesis; II: rubricated in red, penwork initials in blue and red, large initial on f. [1]r on a gilt background; III: rubricated in red, large initial ‘N’ of f. [1]r on a gilt background.
Condition:
A good or reasonably good set in its first binding, meriting some cleaning and binding repairs (I: marginal damp staining, tears in some blank margins; loose f. [2] with inner margin frayed and loss of letters; II: marginal damp staining, minor worming in blank margins; III: marginal damp staining at beginning and end; IV: toned, occasional staining, erasure hole in title).
Ref. ISTC ib00613000 (I-III) and ib00619000 (IV). - GW 4288 (I-III) and 4294 (IV). - Goff B-613 (I-III) and B-619 (IV). - Polain 675 (II-III) and 680 (IV). - Bod-inc B-319 (I-III) and B-324 (IV). - BSB-Ink B-453 (I-III) and B-477 (IV).
Provenance:
1. Ownership entry in all 4 vols: ‘Conventus Pettoviensis S.O.P. ad S. Mariam’, i.e. the Dominicans of Ptuj (Slovenia; German: Pettau, Latin: Pettovium), at the time in the Habsburg duchy of Styria (Steiermark). A manuscript catalogue of this library is preserved in the Steiermärkisches Landesarchiv (Graz). A recent article states: “The current whereabouts of the former Dominican monastery’s books remain unknown” (Nina Ditmajer, ‘Banned Books in the Libraries of the Styrian Monasteries in the Early Modern Period’, in Habsburg Censorship and Literature in the Slovenian Lands. Spec. issue of Slavica Tergestina. European Slavic Studies Journal (Trieste): 26 (2021) 1, 90-115 (quotation p. 103).
2. Presentation inscription in vol. IV: ‘... pi[a]e memoriae Pauli Z ... [erased] episcopi Rosonensis ad bibliothecam ... [erased] legavit’. Paulus Szondi (Hungarian: Szondi Pál) was born ca. 1495 in Sonta (Vojvodina, Serbia; Hungarian: Szond) and studied in Italy (where he founded the Collegium Hungarico-Illyricum in Bologna), became a Zagreb canon, cathedral provost in Esztergom (German: Gran) and Zagreb (German: Agram), and finally bishop of the Hungarian titular see of Rosen (now Rosan, Bosnia and Herzegovina; then under Ottoman rule). He died in 1558 in Nagyszombat (now Trnava, Slovakia).
3. I: old notes on front endpaper; long contemp. note on blank verso of final Exodus leaf; II: old inscription and ownership entry at the top of front flyleaf partly torn off; IV: old marginal annotations, long note on verso of the final blank.
4. Shelf marks (pencil) and serial numbers (ink) on front-end papers, flyleaves or titles. Hungarian library stamp in all vols.
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Biblia Latina
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[Incunable] [Nuremberg] – Biblia Latina. With the Postilla of Nicolaus de Lyra O.F.M., Additiones of Paulus de Sancta Maria, bishop of Burgo, the Replicationes of Matthias Döring, and commentary of Guilelmus Brito on the Prologues of Jerome. With Nicolaus de Lyra, Contra perfidiam Judaeorum. Nuremberg: Anton Koberger, 1485 (I-III) - 1497 (IV).
Mixed edition: vols I-III undated (but completed 7 May 1485), vol. IV of 1497 (xx1v: 6 September).
4 volumes. Chancery folio.
Collation: I: [110 212 3-810 9-108 11-1410 156 168 17-2810 2912 30-3110 324 33-3810 39-406 41-4410 4512 46-4810 496]. [467 (of 468)] ff. (missing initial blank; ff. [1], [18], [21], [463] loose; lower half of ff. [318-320] torn off with loss of text).
II: [1-510 68 710 88 9-2510 26-278 28-3710 388]. [370] ff. (incl. blank f. [260]).
III: [1-710 812 9-1210 1312 148 15-1610 178 182 19-2010 21-226 23-3010 31-328 33-3610 378]. [348] ff.
IV: a-z8 aa-zz8. CCCLI [= 351]-[1 bl.] ff.
I-III: 73 lines of commentary; IV: 71-72 lines. Double column. Gothic type. Bible texts in larger type and centred, surrounded by commentaries in smaller type. Capital spaces with guide letters.
THE FIRST ILLUSTRATED LATIN BIBLE
4 volumes in original binding
A monumental and handsomely printed edition in contemporary bindings. Koberger established the first press at Nuremberg in 1470, which was celebrated for printing his illustrated bibles. He is best remembered for his Nuremberg Chronicle of 1492.
This edition contains the respected biblical commentary of the fourteenth-century Franciscan Nicolaus de Lyra (ca. 1270-1349) and of the thirteenth-century Guilelmus Brito, together with the fifteenth-century additions to Lyra by the converted Spanish Jew Paul of Burgos, and Matthias Döring’s rejection of these additions. Both Nicolaus de Lyra and Paul of Burgos emphasised the meaning of the Bible in a literal sense. Besides, Lyra stressed the importance of the Bible in daily life. Lyra’s ‘Postilla litteralis’ was the definitive biblical commentary from the late Middle Ages until the Reformation, and was frequently reprinted throughout the 15th and 16th centuries. Erasmus of Rotterdam used Lyra’s commentary for his edition of the New Testament, but he is often very critical of the work of his predecessor.
Parts I-III are from the first Koberger edition of the Bible (1485), and part IV is from his fourth edition (1497). The first volume contains the prologue, commentaries, and the book of Genesis to 2 Chronicles; volume 2 has Ezra to Ecclesiasticus, volume 3 has Isaiah to 2 Maccabees, and volume 4 has Matthew to Apocalypse, and Nicholas of Lyra’s Questiones iudaicam perfidiam in catholica fide improbantes.
The fine woodcut illustrations in this edition belong correctly to the accompanying Postilla of Nicolaus of Lyra, a text with an illustrated tradition in manuscript. This tradition did not immediately translate into print since the printers of many early editions provided only blank spaces for the illustrations. Koberger was the first to print illustrations for the Postilla as a separate edition in 1481, and the woodcuts in the present edition (I: 26, incl. 4 full-page; III: 13, incl. 4 full-page) are copies of those (some reduced). In turn, they strongly influenced the woodcuts in the first illustrated Bible in Italy. Illustrated are i.a., the vision of Ezechiel and the plans of the temple and Jerusalem.
Binding:
Vols I-III in contemp. blind-stamped leather over wood, covers with arabesques in a central frame surrounded by floral roll-stamps or pomegranates (II: also lozenge-shaped dragons), spines with 3-5 raised bands (old rebackings), fore-edges titled (III also bottom edges), metal catches (I: worn and loosening, leather of covers dam., spine dam. and leather almost gone, clasps gone or only sm. remains; II: clasps gone; III: spine gone, covers with severe loss of leather, clasps gone).
Vol. II with the large blind-stamped gothic title at the top of the front cover.
Vol. III, with a large metal piece with a catch hook at the top of the lower cover, is evidently a relic of the original chained binding.
Vol. IV in a similar but not matching binding with leather-covered boards, covers with roll-stamps (animals or foliage) in or around the central frame, spine with 3 raised bands (somewhat rubbed and worn, front cover loose, old rebacking).
Decoration:
Vol. I: rubricated throughout with red or blue Lombard initials; f. [2]r with large penwork initial ‘h’ on a gilt background; large initial ‘I’ at beginning of Genesis; II: rubricated in red, penwork initials in blue and red, large initial on f. [1]r on a gilt background; III: rubricated in red, large initial ‘N’ of f. [1]r on a gilt background.
Condition:
A good or reasonably good set in its first binding, meriting some cleaning and binding repairs (I: marginal damp staining, tears in some blank margins; loose f. [2] with inner margin frayed and loss of letters; II: marginal damp staining, minor worming in blank margins; III: marginal damp staining at beginning and end; IV: toned, occasional staining, erasure hole in title).
Ref. ISTC ib00613000 (I-III) and ib00619000 (IV). - GW 4288 (I-III) and 4294 (IV). - Goff B-613 (I-III) and B-619 (IV). - Polain 675 (II-III) and 680 (IV). - Bod-inc B-319 (I-III) and B-324 (IV). - BSB-Ink B-453 (I-III) and B-477 (IV).
Provenance:
1. Ownership entry in all 4 vols: ‘Conventus Pettoviensis S.O.P. ad S. Mariam’, i.e. the Dominicans of Ptuj (Slovenia; German: Pettau, Latin: Pettovium), at the time in the Habsburg duchy of Styria (Steiermark). A manuscript catalogue of this library is preserved in the Steiermärkisches Landesarchiv (Graz). A recent article states: “The current whereabouts of the former Dominican monastery’s books remain unknown” (Nina Ditmajer, ‘Banned Books in the Libraries of the Styrian Monasteries in the Early Modern Period’, in Habsburg Censorship and Literature in the Slovenian Lands. Spec. issue of Slavica Tergestina. European Slavic Studies Journal (Trieste): 26 (2021) 1, 90-115 (quotation p. 103).
2. Presentation inscription in vol. IV: ‘... pi[a]e memoriae Pauli Z ... [erased] episcopi Rosonensis ad bibliothecam ... [erased] legavit’. Paulus Szondi (Hungarian: Szondi Pál) was born ca. 1495 in Sonta (Vojvodina, Serbia; Hungarian: Szond) and studied in Italy (where he founded the Collegium Hungarico-Illyricum in Bologna), became a Zagreb canon, cathedral provost in Esztergom (German: Gran) and Zagreb (German: Agram), and finally bishop of the Hungarian titular see of Rosen (now Rosan, Bosnia and Herzegovina; then under Ottoman rule). He died in 1558 in Nagyszombat (now Trnava, Slovakia).
3. I: old notes on front endpaper; long contemp. note on blank verso of final Exodus leaf; II: old inscription and ownership entry at the top of front flyleaf partly torn off; IV: old marginal annotations, long note on verso of the final blank.
4. Shelf marks (pencil) and serial numbers (ink) on front-end papers, flyleaves or titles. Hungarian library stamp in all vols.