8
LUTHER’S TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE WITH MERIAN’S CELEBRATED ILLUSTRATIONS IN A CONTEMPORARY GERMAN BINDING
25. BIBLE. Biblia, das ist die gantze heilige Schrifft. Alten und Neuen Testaments verteutscht durch D. Martin Luther. Jetzo abermal nach dem letzten im Jahr 1545. noch bey desselben Lebzeiten ausgegangenem ... Exemplarien fleissigst durchsehen ... Zumalen mit Mattäi Merians sel. schönen lebhafften Original-Kupferstücken gezeiret; und durch Zugabe des III. und IV. Buchs Ezrä und III. der Maccabäer vermehret. Franfurt- am-Main: Johann Philipp Andreä for the heirs of Matthaeus Merian I, 1704.
£2,750
Folio. Contemporary German diced russia over oak boards, boards panelled in blind, blind pomegranate tool cornerpieces, borders of triple blind fillets, cast brass central bosses with putti-masks, cast brass cornerpieces and fittings for fore-edge clasps, inner board-edges bevelled and ruled in blind, 20th- century pigskin spine in compartments, retaining original gilt morocco lettering-piece in one, printed floral-patterned endpapers, marbled edges; pp. [46 (engraved title, verso blank, letterpress title, verso blank, 4pp. to the reader, 30pp. indices, 2 pp. liturgical calendar, 5 pp. Luther’s foreword to the Old Testament, 1 p. contents)], 1-675 (Old Testament), [1 (blank)], 1-264 (engraved section-title, verso blank, Prophets), 1-182 (Apocrypha), 1-328 (engraved section-title, verso blank, New Testament); engraved additional title by Matthaeus Merian I after Michael Herr, title printed in red and black, 2 engraved part-titles by Merian after Herr, 232 copper-engraved illustrations in the text by and after Merian [Wüthrich count], woodcut head- and tailpieces, type- ornament headbands, woodcut initials, fraktur and roman types; minor scuffing and marking, lacking one cornerpiece on lower boards, slight cracking on hinges, a few pins possibly later replacements, skilfully and sympathetically rebacked, straps of fore-edge clasps replaced, some light spotting and browning, short marginal tears or paper-flaws on a few ll, unobtrusive marginal worming in some quires in pt ii, occasional light marking, nonetheless a fresh copy in an elaborate contemporary binding.
Fifth (second folio) book edition of the ‘Merianbibel’. This celebrated series of engravings to illustrate the Bible by the Swiss artist and engraver Matthaeus Merian the elder (1593-1650) was first issued in an oblong quarto format between 1625 and 1627 under the title Icones Biblicae, without the biblical text. The illustrations were then incorporated into a folio edition of the Bible published in Strasbourg by the heirs of Lazarus Zetzner in 1630, which was followed by three smaller-format editions and then this second folio edition in 1704. ‘[Die Merianbibel] ist in Suddeutschland, Basel und dem Elsaß wohl die verbreitetste deutsche illustrierte Bibel gewesen [...] Matthaus Merians Bilderbibel leitete eine Entwicklung der Bibelillustration ein, die immer weiter weg vom reformatorischen Zweck der Bibelbilder zum rein Darstellerisch-Künstlerischen fuhrte [...] Die Leistung Matthäus Merians als Vermittler der Kenntnis und Anschauung der biblischen Geschichten ist sehr groß und wurde wohl durch keinen der späteren Illustratoren übertroffen, kaum erreicht’ (P. Schmidt Die Illustration der Lutherbibel, 1522-1700 (Basel: 1962), pp. 304-306).
Die Bibelsammlung der Württembergischen Landesbibliothek Stuttgart (Stuttgart: 1984-2002), II, ii, 2, E-1042; Wüthrich, Merian III, pp. 18-19.
26. BLAKE, William. KEYNES, Geoffrey and Mona WILSON (authors). The Writings Of William Blake. Edited In Three Volumes By Geoffrey Keynes. together with The Life of William Blake by Mona Wilson. Printed by the Chiswick Press for the Nonesuch Press, 1925, 1927
£595
Large 8vo. Two works in four vols. Original quarter parchment over marbled paper covered boards; xx, [2], 365, [28]ff. of numbered pls; [viii], 399pp. and 10ff. of plates; viii, 430pp. + [21]ff. of plates; frontispiece, xvi, 397, [1]pp., [24]ff. of plates; a bright clean set.
The Writings limited to 1575 copies. This copy numbered 114. The Life limited to 1480 copies. This copy numbered 1062.
26
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74