ILLUSTRATED WITH OVER 600 WOODCUTS
BIBLIA, ad vetustissima exemplaria nunc recens castigata, in quibus praeter ea quae subsequens praefatio indicat, capita singula ita versibus distincta sunt ut numeri praefixi lectorem non remorentur et loca quaesita tamquam digito demonstrent. Edited by Johannes Hentenius. Title page illustrated with an elaborate architectural woodcut border incorporating several scenes: St. Jerome in his study, Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac, and Cain slaying Abel; plus over 600 text woodcuts after Hans Holbein, Bernard Salomon and Pierre Eskrich. Thick 4to. Bound in 16th- or 17th-century full vellum over semi-rigid boards; spine titled "Biblia Sacra" in an early hand. Printed in Venice [by Altobello Salicato] for heirs of Niccolò Bevilacqua & assoc., 1574. The Latin text of this Venetian edition is of Hentenius' influential 1547 Louvain Bible, which closely follows the Estienne Bible of 1538-40, with some modifications of the text and marginal matter.
"The artist of these illustrations worked from various sources, notably the three sets of woodcuts by Hans Holbein, Bernard Salomon, and Pierre Eskrich, introduced at Lyons from 1538 to 1562 and widely used in Bibles and picture books [...]. This Venetian set also has scenes not usually illustrated." (Mortimer/Harvard, Italian Books, No. 62, describing a 1576 ed. with the same woodcuts).
The Vulgate Bible is an early 5th century Latin version of the Holy Scriptures, translated from the Hebrew and Aramaic by St. Jerome between 382 and 405 A.D., on the orders of Pope Damasus I. It takes its name from the phrase versio vulgata, "the translation made public." and was written in a common fourth-century style of literary Latin in conscious distinction from the more elegant Ciceronian Latin. The Vulgate improved upon several translations then in use, and became the definitive and officially promulgated Bible version of the Roman Catholic Church. Its Old Testament is the first Latin version translated directly from the Hebrew Tanakh rather than from the Greek Septuagint. In terms of its importance to the culture, art, and life of the Middle Ages, the Vulgate stands supreme.
Preliminaries include Lenten's preface to the 1547 Louvain Bible, St Jerome's prologues, Index testimoniorum a Christo et apostolis in Nouo Testamento, Ordo librorum, and another preface by Francesco Antonio Faccini. At the end of the Bible are Interpretation of the Hebrew, Chaldaic and Greek names, Index of Subjects and Sentences, Index of Epistles and Gospels, as well as Proprium Sanctorum and Commune Sanctorum.
Binding slightly rubbed and soiled, with light wear to extremities, minor tears at joints. Title-page somewhat soiled with chipping around edges, neatly backed on its blank verso with old paper at an early date (minor loss to top outer corner of the woodcut border). Some scattered soiling; occasional light water-staining; a small stain to bottom outer corners of several leaves. A short, thin worm-track to inner margin of a few leaves at the end. 2 leaves with minor repairs to inner margin affecting just a few letters, woodcuts not affected. 2 early ownership inscriptions to title-page, and a later ownership name to front pastedown. Some tearing to pastedowns due to lifting vellum turn-ins. In all, a clean, well-preserved example of this scarce, sumptuously illustrated Vulgate Bible.
