This edition was densely printed in roman type at the Sessa Press. It has a large woodcut on the title-page of St. Catherine receiving the Stigmata and a small xylograph on the colophon page of the famous Sessa printer's device of the cat and mouse.

All pre-17th-century editions are scarce if not rare. Of this edition we trace only four library copies in the U.S., and this is one, deaccessioned, of that quartet.

•  Index Aurel. 134.030; Essling 739; Sander 1819; Shaaber C268.   Later vellum. Library bookplate on front pastedown and rubber-stamp on closed bottom edges; shadow of erased pencilled call number on a front blank. Semicircular stain of varying extent (not ink, not water, not wax) to pages of central section and but a very few other stains; pleasantly clean. Early, excellent repair to margin of last leaf. (12228)

This entry is repeated in the
“C” section of this
catalogue . . .

All 16th-century editions are scarce. Via NUC, OCLC and RLIN we locate only this copy of this edition (now deaccessioned) and that at Princeton.

Binding: Contemporary alum-tawed sheep over wooden boards with partially bevelled edges. Elaborately blind-embossed with a roll and a center panel ornament. Front cover with initials “H. S.” and date “1597” in gilt. Rear cover with gilt putti in the areas where initials and the date appear on the front.

Evidence of readership: Marginalia in the prefatory index; very scattered early underscoring.

•  VD16 A969; Goedeke, II, 8. Binding as above, lacking clasps and with old paper spine label; ex-library with bookplate and call number in old, faded, white numbering on spine. Title-page browned and tipped in; loss of paper to fore- and bottom margins of same. Some age-toning to paper and several leaves with natural paper flaws, repaired with archival tissue; three other leaves also with natural paper flaws repaired at time of binding or shortly after printing. Approximately 12 leaves with inkstains, sometimes obscuring text. One leaf (178) with a hole costing a significant loss of text. A marginally acceptable copy as regards text, in a good binding.

This volume nicely shows both Welser's wealth (access to the Aldine press) and his antiquarian scholarship (on the history and Roman antiquities of Augsburg, Germany). A good example of the late Aldine press's contract work, it employs the usual mix of roman and italic type and on some leaves demonstrates the art of printing sideways; it does not bear the anchor and dolphin device, but is attributed to Aldus in Renouard, which makes a great deal of sense given the relationship between Welser and Manuzio. It is uncommon in today's market and is little held in U.S. libraries.

Contents include: Antiqua quae Augustae Vindelicorum extant monumenta (pp. 199–244); Antiqua agri Augustani monumenta (pp. 245–258); Antiqua monumenta peregrina (pp. 259–74). Signature D is letterpress and an engraved double page map (upside down); signature Ii is letterpress and an engraved double page folding plate.

Provenance: Signature of Hermanus Conringius, dated 1662.

•  Renouard, Alde, 252. Vellum over paste boards, lacking ties; old inked title and paper shelving label on spine (minor wear, mild soiling and discolorations). Ex–theological seminary with bookplate on front pastedown and rubber-stamp on title-page engraving; title-page mounted. Early inked writing on front fly-leaf and rear free endpaper; a few instances of inked underlining and marginal notation. First few leaves with evidence of worming in bottom right corners and top right corners of first six repaired; light waterstains at top margins of some later leaves. Edges sprinkled red. Overall, a clean, crisp copy.

•  Alden & Landis, European Americana, 574/1; Adams M755; Sabin 1558; Medina, Biblioteca hispano-americana, 235; JCB, I, 253; Arents, Additions, 3; Palau 12595; Maggs, Spanish Americana, 471; Rodrigues 186 and 809; Borba de Moraes (2nd ed.), Bibliographia brasiliana, 532. Half vellum over late-17th-century, early-18th-century "Dutch" gold-stamped "wallpaper"; gilt-stamped leather label on spine, with small circular paper label pasted below; paper with abrasions and vellum soiled. A sound volume. All edges speckled. Light agetoning; one pin-type wormhole at base of outside margin through first quarter of the book, and a bit of other minor marginal worm-work in the first 10 pages neatly repaired.

The text is printed in italic with guide letters. The printer's device appears on the title-page and on the verso of the last leaf (often lacking).

Provenance: Two old signatures on title-page, i.e., “Gilbert Boucher” and another.

•  Adams A1355; Index Aurel. 106.553; Renouard 115; Petras 223; Schweiger, I, 40.   Late 18th-century quarter sheep with plain sides. Spine tooled in gilt, rubbed, part of small label with date missing. Occasional light foxing. (20626)

Present here is vol. I containing the original Greek text, the Latin translation having been printed in a separate volume. Incomplete at the end, lacking the final eight leaves, this is sold as a binding only.

Binding: Contemporary alum-tawed pigskin over bevelled boards, remnants of the metal closures. Covers elaborately blind-embossed with several rolls and devices. Front cover has in its center panel the initials “A. W.,” the date 1539, and medallions of Manfred of Saxony and Luther, while the rear cover's center panel has medallions of Melanchthon and Erasmus.

•  Graesse, I, 227; Legrand, Bibliographie hellénique, III, 388; Adams A2009.   Binding toned to a pleasing dark tan. Old bookplate on front pastedown. Front free endpaper torn with loss. Vol. I only, and lacking the final eight leaves. (20418)

•  Publisher's burgundy cloth; in original dust jacket. A very good copy.   (22009)

Provenance:  Bookplate of William Ely; earlier, unidentified armorial bookplate also.

•  Late 17th- or early 18th-century leather, plain sides, gilt spine extra; gilt darkened, with leather abraded, worn, and dry. Tops and bottoms of spines pulled with small loss of leather; labels damaged with loss. Vol. I with small worming to one section of index, with loss of some letters; this volume with old ink notations in same(?) hand as an undeciphered signature on the title-page of vol. II. Vol. dII with variable waterstaining; both volumes with old pencilling. All edges red.  (23988)

This Bible is illustrated with two full-page and 130 in-text woodcuts (including some repeated images), a few of which have early hand-coloring, mostly but not entirely in green or yellow. One full-page cut shows the six days of Creation — partially hand-colored in green, brown, red, blue, and yellow — while another depicts the manger scene. The text is followed by the Interpretationes nominum hebraicorum, a dictionary of Hebrew names often appended to manuscript and early printed Bibles.

Binding: Contemporary blind-tooled, alum-tawed pigskin over beech boards, elaborately worked using embossing rolls with religious vignettes and busts. Covers with etched metal corner bosses and remnants of leather and metal clasps.

•  Adams B988; c.f. Darlow & Moule 6101 & 6091. Binding as above, spine with hand-inked title; overall dust-soiled and darkened with several short tears to leather; leather no longer tight to the boards. Straps, clasp locking-mechanisms, and lower front metal corner now lost. Title-page and final two ff. of Interpretationes lacking; front pastedown separated from board and back pastedown lacking. First and last few leaves with insect damage to outer edges. First text page (contents) with old institutional rubber-stamp and shadow of pencilled numeral. A few leaves separated; a number of leaves with short tears from lower margins, a few extending into text, in many cases with traces of old repairs. Two leaves with lower outer corners torn away, one repaired some time ago. Pages age-toned, some waterstained. Scattered contemporary inked marginalia; some light underlining and a few instances of early inked doodling. Despite its faults, this is rare and imposing.

Provenance: 17th-century spine label with initials “S.F.” and a tree design between them. Ownership signature of Gordon Duff; Yale University (bookplate) — deaccessioned.

•  Edition: Moreau, II, 930; Shaaber, British Authors Printed Abroad, P57; not in Darlow & Moule. Binding: Fogelmark, Flemish and Related Panel-Stamped Bindings, plate XXXII R.46 & pp. 48–49. Volume rebacked and much of old spine reapplied. Lacks title-leaf. All initials highlighted in red; occasional early underlining. Missing leaf notwithstanding (though it does lower the price), a very nice copy in a notable early binding.

•  Bible: Darlow & Moule 5088; Adams B1884. Josephus: Adams J346. Osiander: Adams O359. 17th-century sheep, spine gilt extra with tan label, gilt lettered; leather abraded, flaking on spine and edges, and peeling on covers; joints starting at head and base. Ex-library: Paper slip with inked call number affixed to spine; pressure-stamps, including one on title-page; pencilled call number on verso of title-leaf. Title- and last leaf rebacked with old notes and the colophon, on their versos, thereby obscured though visible as present through the rectos; a few other old repairs. Some light foxing and waterstaining, and traces of soiling. Some passages have been underlined of old in red. Portion of the Latin text of the Josephus (pp. 3–6) missing in the first chapter. Marbled endpapers; all edges speckled red.

Melanchthon (1497–1560), the great Humanist and Luther's friend and supporter, wrote the preface to this edition. The three leaves bearing that essay are missing from this copy and this may be due to a Catholic or Inquisitorial censor removing them so that the text of the Bible proper could be used by Catholic readers. All of Melanchthon's writings, including introductions, were on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. The text of the Bible proper, here, is complete.

The text of the O.T. "follows the Aldine Bible of 1518; with variant readings, and restoration of the usual order in Provers and Ecclesiasticus. The Apocrypha are grouped together as in No. 4602 [i.e., the Strassburg edition of 1524–26]. The N.T. text appears to agree with the quarto edition printed at Basel in 1545" (Darlow & Moule). The New Testament just referred to was the sole Greek-only Testament that Froben published and it follows the text of the fourth Greek N.T. of Erasmus, meaning that the N.T. here is also a close reprinting of the Erasmus fourth.

Provenance: Late-17th- / early-18th-century ownership signature of "Pet. Wedderburn; 18th-century bookplate of Lord Eliock; later pencilled signature of "[?].T. Coleridge" (not Samuel Taylor Coleridge; possibly, however, Justice John Coleridge). At back, "Ex dono D. Al: Brown, M.D." and another ownership inscription entirely in Greek.