BIBLE, in German - photo 1
BIBLE, in German - photo 2
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BIBLE, in German

Lot 128
10.07.2024 10:30UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
£ 25 200
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1249866
Lot 128 | BIBLE, in German
Estimate value
£ 25 000 – 35 000
BIBLE, in German
Biblia Germanica. Nuremberg: Anton Koberger, 17 February 1483.
Ninth edition of the Bible in German, with hand-coloured woodcuts and initials. The succeeding five editions of the German Bible depend textually on this Koberger edition. It is illustrated with a series of woodcuts by the ‘Master of the Cologne Bibles’, possibly based on drawings in a Netherlandish manuscript (Berlin, Ms.germ.fol.516), which were created for the Low-German Bibles printed at Cologne in 1478/79, with which Koberger was also involved. They strongly influenced later Bible illustration, including that by Dürer for Koberger's Apocalypse printed in 1498. This book demonstrates the wide scope of Koberger's business, including planning, production, marketing and distribution. As a text it fits neatly into a trio of German editions, complementing those Cologne Bibles in two Low German dialects. Koberger commissioned two new German types for his bible and is said to have run 24 presses to print this edition which ran to around 1,000-1,500 copies. Goff B-632; H *3137; GW 4303; BMC II, 424; CIBN B-444; Bod-inc. B-330; Schreiber 3461; BSB B-490; ISTC ib00632000.

Two volumes bound in one, royal folio (405 x 278mm). 584 (of 586 leaves, without one divisional blank and final blank in volume 2). 109 woodcuts from 108 blocks, all but one [fo. 494v] coloured by a later hand, many initials in volume 1 rubricated, others supplied in colours, 2 illuminated initials [on fos. 5r and 296r] on a burnished gold ground in colours with floral and leafy extensions (occasional light thumb-soiling, light scattered spotting, occasional tears not affecting text]and slight loss from detached tabs, some minor dampstaining). Modern binding in 15th-century-style of cream pigskin-backed bevelled wooden boards by J. C. Sheehan of Santa Fe [New Mexico] dated 1978, metal clasps and catches, many early leather index tabs preserved. Provenance: occasional early marginal annotations in ink – Benedictine monastery of St Georgenberg, near Schwatz, Tyrol (inscribed at head of first text leaf in volume 1 'Monastery montis S. Georgij 1654').
Place of origin:Western Europe, Germany, Europe
Auction house category:Books and manuscripts, Printed books
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
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10.07.2024 – 10.07.2024
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
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