~ALCUIN
BOOKS~
Scholarly and Rare Books
Search or Browse Appraisals Shipping About Alcuin Books alcuinx@msn.com Home
BIBLES AND RELIGION
The Bible: That is, the Holy Scriptures conteined in the Old and New Testament; translated According to the Ebrew and Greeke; and Conferred with the Best translations in Diuers Languages, with Most Profitable Annotations Vpon All Hard Places .... London: Robert Barker, 1608. [6], 190, 181, [11]. The true first edition of the "Judas Bible" named for the typographical error in John 6:67 where Judas is substituted for Jesus. As in the case of typical Geneva Bibles, Genesis 3:7 has the Lord making them :"breeches" instead of clothing. Ruth 3:15 here has "she" which is correct though later editions of the King James 1611 to 1614 inexplicably did not reset the type until late in 1614 when "she" became standard for the King James Bible. Expertly Quarto edition rebacked over 18th Century Calf with gilt lettering on red morocco label. Bible engraved title page is mounted, List of Bible Names is not complete. top edge trimmed, some browning and soiling, with some closed tears though the Bible text is readable throughout. Pages are often misnumbered but the passages are complete. The last section is the Apocrypha and there is a torn missing part of the page on the Historie of Susanna and Bel and the Dragon measuring about 6" x 5". Many in text illustrations (18 in Old Testament) from the Garden of Eden location, the ark, all the furniture of the Tabernacle; a sleightly larger than half page map of the Israelites and their enemies in the land of Canaan, and another map of the locations of the 12 tribes; Several of Solomon's Temple, and at the Book of Job there is a 17th Century insert of Job and his three friends. On the blank page preceding the list of proper names in the Bible there is an interesting account of previous ownership all from the 17th Century. There is ink text possibly in Welsh, then a note that the Bible was bound off Martha Wyneth 1672 off January (unclear meaning). Then written in 1674 Sarah Darling her book. A very nice copy mostly well-preserved and no further indications of later owners though it made its way at some point to the United States.
[014349] $6500
Benham, W. (Translator). THE IMITATION OF CHRIST: Four Books. London: John C. Nimmo, 1886. Octavo. 383pp, with fifteen etchings by L. Flameng and Ch. Waltner from designs by J.P. Laurens and Henri Levy. text within pictorial and decorative borders in the fashion of a 15th century book of hours, beautifully bound by Riviere in full purple morocco heavily framed in a decorative gilt design, raised bands with compartments fully gilt decorated, all edges gilt, inner gilt dentelles, marbled endpapers. Spine has changed evenly to tan, a couple of light spots of rubbing to front and rear board. A very nice copy, internally fresh.
[014800] $650
Cancellieri, Francesco. Memorie Istoriche Delle Sacre Teste De Santi Apostoli Pietro e Paolo; e
della Loro Solenne Ricognizione Nella Basilica Lateranense; Con Un Appendice Di Documenti. Roma:
Nella Stamperia Dell S C Di Propaganda Fide, 1806. Folio - over 12" - 15" tall. A Very Good Copy
vii, 109, 6 leaves of plates. engraved frontispiece with six engraved plates and three text
engravings. First Edition. The relics of St. Peter and St. Paul along with new marble busts of the
saints by the sculptor Luigi Acuisti. Biblioteque nationale attributes authorship to Cancellieri
although it has also been attributed to Lonardo Antonelli who had employed Cancellieri as his
librarian for one of the great private collections. Beautifully bound half-leather with five raised
bands over silk. Specially made slipcase accompanies volume. McLean fine binding. Maurith Burke
bookplate on inner free endpaper.
[013732] $750
Fabricus, Johann Albert; Josephus
Christianus. CODEX PSEUDEPIGRAPHUS VETERIS TESTAMENTI.
1174pp. Second, expanded and best edition originally published in
1713, bound in 3/4 vellum over paper covered boards, red tinted edges, vellum and paper with some
peeling but tight copy with no marks or loss of text. Printed in antiqua, bastard, fraktur and
italic roman type and in Greek and Hebrew type with some German text, title page printed in red and
black with engraved vignette that shows time with wings and scythe with scholar eagerly at
work, frontispiece of Fabricus whose prolific works produced the first great scholarly collection of
Old Testament pseudepigrapha. This was a work that Thomas Jefferson used and while it is scholarly
it also appeals to those who are fascinated with the non-canonical works that form a part of the
religious tradition that influenced the Greco-Roman world. R.H. Charltes and later James
Charlesworth brought us more modern editions but much of the original is found only here. Details of
Fabricius' life are found in J.E. Sandys, History of Classical Scholarship.
Luther, Dr. Martin (translation). BIBLIA, das ist: die ganze Heilige Schrift Alten und Neuen Testaments...... Lancaster, [Penn.]: Johann Bär., 1819. Folio.
John Wright, "Early Books in America", p. 39 notes that this was probably the first folio edition of the Bible in German printed in the United States. The Christoph Saur editions of 1743, 1763 and 1776 were quarto editions. This Bible is not found in Darlow and Moule. Johann Bär was the printer and John Henry was the engraver. [Shaw & Shoemaker, 47206; Bott & Tannhof, "German Printing", 2363.
It is particularly significant that this was a major effort by German Pietists in America. August Hermann Francke (1663-1727) has a section on how to read the Holy Scriptures. Not only is the Bible complete but it contains the Apocrypha. While the questions of canonicity were recurrent issues among Protestants, German Christians consider them part of the religious tradition though not used for theological purposes.
Engraved frontispiece, title, (2)pp., (5) subscriber's list for Bible orders in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, New Jersey and New York, 100pp. history of the Old and New Testaments; 12pp. biography of Martin Luther and his wife Katharine von Boren; (2)pp., about reading the Scriptures by August Herman Frankens; (2)pp index; 738pp. Old Testament; 26pp. book of Ezra. [New Testament] engraved frontispiece, title; 227pp., [1]pp. feast days; [1]-92pp. Register of names in the Bible. bound in a handsome contemporary calf binding with a silhouette of Moses on the front board and a silhouette of Jesus on the rear board, both framed within a decorative gilt floral roll, spine gilt decorated, red morocco spine label gilt, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers, housed in an early full leather slipcase.
[014510] $2500
Member of Antiquarian
Booksellers Association of America
Purchasing individual rare books as well as entire libraries.