In this printing, a fine engraved title-page shows an angel delivering Luther's translation of the Old Testament to a Church still in bondage to the requirements of the old Law. A similar sectional title-page, depicting God the Father, Jesus Christ, and allegorical figures of the sacraments of Baptism and Communion, comes before the New Testament. Six special pairs of leaves, bound in at various places, each offer a first page containing an engraving of biblical figures and three following pages containing their biographies. A woodcut vignette of the unusual triple arms of the city of Nürnberg appears on the title-page; a number of chapters are adorned, at head, with one-third page woodcut illustrations set in neat borders; and the books typically open with typographically appealing two-column "headers." The text is in a handsome and relatively legible fraktur. The size, decoration, and overall composition of the volume, along with its faults (especially the manner in which which pages are worn), suggest a history as a lectern Bible in a Lutheran Church.

Provenance:  Front fly-leaf with inked inscription: “These volumes were the property of the Rev. Francis Wayland, D.D., President of Brown University. They are presented to the Bucknell Library [of Crozer Theological Seminary] by Henry G. Weston. June 14, 1900.” The Rev. Weston was the first president of Crozer.

•  Darlow & Moule 4736.   Recent quarter calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped green leather title and volume labels and gilt-stamped compartment decorations. Title-pages, several others, and lower (closed) page edges institutionally rubber-stamped; title-pages with Wayland's pencilled inscription in upper margin; first text pages each with inked numeral in lower margin. Mild foxing and occasional small stains; last half of vol. II with waterstaining, significant to the eye but not impairing reading; one leaf with short tear from outer margin, touching text without loss. One inked annotation in Greek, a few other small pencilled annotations. Pagination erratic, text complete and uninterrupted. A sound, pleasant, evocative set.  (27246)

Arndt lists three states for this edition, of which this appears to be C, based on the absence of a two-leaf addendum giving a short history of Bible translation—that a buyer could choose to have bound in or not.

•  Rumball-Petre, Rare Bibles, 159; Darlow & Moule 4240; O’Callaghan 22; Wright, Early Bibles of America, 24–44; Evans 5127–28; Sabin 5191; Arndt, The First Century of German Language Printing in the United States of America, 47C; Hildeburn, The Issues of the Press in Pennsylvania, 1685-1784, 804. Contemporary calf over bevelled boards. Binding scratched and abraded with tears to spine leather. Hinges (inside only) open. A printed poem has been affixed to the front pastedown, over a strip of cloth. Ownership inscriptions in German (in gothic cursive) and English on endpapers. Pp. 1–2 with loss of part of margins, some text, and part of headpiece, repaired with paper. Lightly age-toned with darker brown-spotting, some waterstaining, occasional dog ears, and some holing or chipping in the margins—some of the latter repaired with paper. First two leaves, i.e., main title-page and preface supplied in facsimile; the New Testament title-page is present.

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An important example of 18th-century fine printing of the Bible

The quarto edition was limited to 500 copies.

Binding:  Contemporary red morocco: Covers bordered with triple-fillet rule and round spine with five raised bands, resulting six spine compartments each with a triple-fillet gilt frame; five compartments each with gilt center device and the sixth with title in gilt. Board edges with gilt double-rule, gilt dentelles on turn-ins, marbled endpapers. All edges gilt.

•  Gaskell (enlarged ed.) Add. 1; Darlow & Moule 4755.   Binding as above; front cover with 1.5" scar to front over (from a burn?), otherwise light rubbing only. A clean copy inside with a few pairs of facing leaves showing a narrow and rather odd band of soiling across their top margins; otherwise, only the quite occasional spot or old smudge. A handsome copy.  (29610)

Provenance:  Old inked inscription of John Ebersole, dated 1793, on front free endpaper; later pencilled signatures of Anna Ebersole and another person to pastedown.

•  Evans 9602; Hildeburn, Pennsylvania, 2045; Arndt & Eck, First Century of German Language Printing in the U.S., 296; ESTC W20981.   Contemporary calf with one clasp working and a remnant of the other; moderate rubbing to covers, leather on spine showing flex marks from the tight-back binding. Later spine labels. Faint library pressure-stamp on title-page; signatures as above. Age-toning and some staining; in fact the paper in cleaner condition than is often seen.  (25959)

The poetic Song of Solomon is here interpreted and typeset as a drama, with, as full-fledged characters, the Bridegroom, the Spouse, and choruses of Virgins and Companions; Percy's introduction and notes explain that choice and, otherwise, deal largely with the background of Jewish marriage ceremonies.

The title-page is printed in red and black, with the author supplied in old ink. Dodsley has supplied a light scattering of ornaments, including a rather charming mini-manicule that introduces the most significant notes.

•  See: Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature, II, 242; not in: Darlow & Moule. On Percy, who later became one of the king's chaplains-in-ordinary, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online.   19th-century half calf over gray marbled boards, spine gilt-ruled with red label, speckled edges; joints and board edges rubbed and faded, leather cracking along spine. Lacking the first leaf (half-title?). Offsetting from binding to endpapers, mild foxing throughout, a copy sound and pleasant.  (30122)

Click the interior image for an enlargement.

The volume opens with a woodcut portrait of Martin Luther which according to Hamilton (cited in Reilly [see below]) “might have been made by Justu Fox who was working in Philadelphia at this time.”

•  Evans 11714; Hildeburn, Pennsylvania, 2561; ESTC W21005; Warrington, History and Practice of Psalmody in the United States, p. 39; Reilly, Dictionary of American Printers' Ornaments & Illustrations, 1577.   Contemporary sheep, rebacked some time ago, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-, place, “Chris. Saur,” and date labels; rubbed in the ordinary degree and with remnants of clasps. Back free endpaper lacking; pastedowns and blanks with old inked and pencilled signatures and writing practice(?) — which we do not make out much of, beyond “Johann(es).” Three leaves each with closed tear from outer margin extending into text; three index leaves with tattered outer edges, one with loss of lower outer portion; small section of pages with odd little dent to outer edge; last leaf present (and that leaf only) with a couple of pin-type wormholes; final leaf lacking. Pages age-toned, with moderate spotting and staining. Priced according to its described “issues,” not according to its considerable charm on shelf and in hand.  (25105)

Provenance:  Front fly-leaf with attractively inked inscription: “Dieses gesangbuch gehörer mit Elizabeth Bernhardin. 1780" (fraktur-like, but without color) and an additional early inked inscription beneath.

•  Evans 15242; Hildeburn 3624; Arndt & Eck 492; ESTC W20982.   Contemporary mottled calf with remnants of two original clasps, covers framed in double blind fillets, spine quite plain with raised bands and no labels; mildly rubbed overall, leather with small cracks at joints and spine, front joint expertly strengthened. Ex-library, front pastedown with bookplate and rubber-stamp; two other leaves but not the title-page with stamps; back pastedown with old pocket. Pages moderately browned and spotted, not excessively so for this type of production; a few corners dog-eared. Solid and, with its old “personalizations,” pleasing.  (27902)

•  Prayer Book, Psalter: not in ESTC. Bible: not in Darlow & Moule or ESTC; Herbert 1286. Contemporary calf, covers panelled in blind with remnants of clasps. Front joint open with cords strongly holding; covers abraded with incisions and leather loss to edges; spine leather dry and cracking; front fly-leaf detached. Lacking title-page and two preliminary leaves of Prayer Book; another early leaf detached with a closed tear across, no loss of text; four or half a dozen leaves with a crescent of waterstaining along upper margin and some lines into text. Bible: scattered foxing and brown spotting, with a few closed tears and occasional chipping in the margins, resulting in loss of words from a few shouldernotes. The copy described by Herbert had engravings and maps not present here; this copy is complete textually.

This edition ends with leaf 6M4 and does not match Darlow and Moule 957 (Edinburgh: M. & C. Kerr, 1793), described as a folio with text ending on 9R2, although that entry's statement that “The insertion of the Apocrypha interrupts the signatures” would seem to explain the absence of the non-integral Apocrypha; the accompanying Scotch Metrical Psalms of 1795 are also present in Darlow and Moule's listing. Herbert finds additional Kerr printings of 1793, but none that match the format and collation of this copy.

Scarce: ESTC, OCLC, and NUC Pre-1956 find only two U.S. holdings.

Provenance: The beautifully written ownership note, “Rebecca Jane Emack,” at top of first text leaf.

•  ESTC T91818; this ed. not in Darlow & Moule or Herbert.   Recent quarter calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped thistle decorations, leather edges tooled in blind. Upper portion of title-page neatly excised and probably something off the bottom also; early inked ownership inscription as above. Light staining and foxing; several instances of laid-in dried plant matter.  (25336)

Each volume closes with extensive Notes; the last leaf of vol. I offers a list of other works by this author for sale from the same publisher; and the last page of the second volume has an affixed errata slip. The notes are quite direct and personal, with Wakefield remarking, e.g., on what effect or variety of accuracy he is trying to achieve; what the knot of difficulty at a particular point actually is, for the translator; and whose “excellent” reading he is following (and how the chosen version from the Coptic differs from the Syriac or AEthiopic). He expresses surprise that an “obvious construction” has “escaped the critics” so “remarkabl[y]” long as it has, and in another case confesses that he is “quite at a loss” as to how one clause is supposed to connect with another — definitely, he's a scholar who yetlives in his pages.

Provenance:  Armorial bookplates of Justinian Minoch laid in.

•  ESTC T93093; Darlow & Moule 933 (see note); Herbert 1362. On Wakefield, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online.   Recent quarter black morocco and stone pattern marbled paper–covered sides, leather edges tooled in blind; spines with gilt-stamped title, volume number, place/date, and compartment decorations. Bookplates laid in as above. Half-titles and title-pages with handsome old institutional pressure-stamp; each first text page with inked numeral. Intermittent light foxing, pages otherwise clean. An engaging pair of books in all respects.  (25784)

George Campbell (1719–96) was a minister of the Church of Scotland, theologian, and principal of Marischal College. He wrote a number of theological works, including a defense of miracles in response to David Hume, and was noted for originality of argument as well as charity towards his opponents. This translation of the Gospels was first published in England in 1789; the work consists of a preface and preliminary dissertations, the actual translation, and the notes, with the whole being very scholarly, resorting frequently to the Greek in the dissertations and notes.

Provenance: Title-page and contents leaf with early inked inscriptions reading “Jas. Booth.”

•  ESTC W4383; Evans 30086; Hills, English Bible in America, 56. On Campbell, see: The Dictionary of National Biography. Contemporary treed sheep, rubbed and abraded with leather lost at corners/spine and cracking over joints and spine. Title-page and contents inscribed as described above; endpapers waterstained, and pages with light spots of foxing. Paper in many sections faintly blue.

•  ESTC W4382; Evans 35200; Hills, English Bible in America, 71. On Campbell, see: The Dictionary of National Biography.   Publisher's brown leather, rebacked, board edges refurbished, original spine-label reused. Old library pressure-stamps and a bit of pencilling, stamped numberwith a (properly deaccessioned). Occasional light foxing and with some marginal waterstains. Overall, a rather nice copy.  (23757)