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[The Vinegar Bible]: The Holy Bible containing the Old Testament and the New / Newly Translated out of the Original Tongues / And with the Former Translations diligently Compared and Revised. By his Majesties special Command ... Printed by John Baskett (1716)

[The Vinegar Bible]: The Holy Bible containing the Old Testament and the New / Newly Translated out of the Original Tongues / And with the Former Translations diligently Compared and Revised. By his Majesties special Command ... Printed by John Baskett (1716)

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[The Vinegar Bible]: The Holy Bible containing the Old Testament and the New / Newly Translated out of the Original Tongues / And with the Former Translations diligently Compared and Revised. By his Majesties special Command ... Printed by John Baskett (1716)

  • Used
  • very good
  • Hardcover
Condition
Very Good
Seller
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Gloucester City, New Jersey, United States
Item Price
€42,133.50
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About This Item

Oxford: Printed by John Baskett, Printer to [the] Kings most Excellent Majesty for Great-Britain and for [the] University, 1716. Hardcover. Very Good. Two volumes. Royal folios (measuring 55cm. in height, or 14.5" x 21.5"). The rarer of two known states (the other bearing a 1717 imprint): Volume 1 (Old Testament and Apocrypha) issued with the illustrated engraved title page engraved by John Sturt and dated 1716; and Volume 2 (New Testament) issued with an engraving of the Annunciation on the letterpress title page and dated 1716.

A rare copy of the magnificent ‘Vinegar Bible', in a presentation binding of black levant leather with the Royal Cypher of King George III (surmounted by a crown) stamped in gold in five compartments on the spines of each volume, and the Royal Arms (with "G.R. III" above the crown) embossed at the center of all four covers. Both volumes have early marbled endpapers and wove paper fly leaves, royal blue silk ribbons, all edges gilt. According to an early bookseller's description (tipped onto the front fly leaf): "this copy possesses even an additional interest beyond being the property of, and most likely often read by the Monarch, who expressed a hope ‘That the time would come when every poor child in his dominions would be able to read the Bible.'" Whether such speculation is true might be subject to some skepticism, but we can only say that this is a presentation binding.

Baskett's Bible is a landmark in English graphic art, celebrated both for the beauty of its typographical design and many Baroque engravings, and also for its many typographical errors, including the running headline of Luke, chapter 20, which prints: ‘The parable of the vinegar,' instead of: ‘The parable of the vineyard.' In addition to John Sturt, a copperplate engraver who ran one of the first drawing schools in England at St. Paul's Churchyard, other artists and engravers responsible for the illustrations include James Thornhill, one of the most important English exponents of Baroque decorative painting (and the first English-born artist to be knighted), Gerard and Michael Vandergucht, and the Frenchmen Louis Chéron and Louis du Guernier (both of whom lived and died in London).

This copy of the Vinegar Bible was later owned by Claudia Wright Lea, the daughter of Delaware Governor Preston Lea, a prominent Quaker whose ancestors came to Pennsylvania with William Penn. She was an important collector of botany and horticulture books (now held at the University of South Carolina), and founder of the Garden Clubs of Aiken and South Carolina. She then donated it to a library, where it was kept locked away except for the occasional exhibit, and from whom we purchased it. Presentation plates are neatly tipped-in along one edge only at the gutter of the front free endpapers.

The original leather binding is rubbed with scattered cracking and some scuffing to the spine backs and edges. Most of the original gilt is faded or tarnished, the boards have been at one time neatly re-jointed (visible only along the hinges), both boards of volume one are detached (neatly split between two leaves [A2 and A3] in Genesis, and two leaves [4Q2 and 4Q3] in the Apocrypha), and the front board of volume two is nearly detached. Else both volumes are overall very good, with a few early paper repairs, and one damaged leaf in the New Testament, where a bottom corner piece of missing text was neatly replaced with an early laid-paper sheet with the missing verses completed in manuscript.

A handsome and exceedingly rare edition of this famous Bible, in the original presentation binding.

Details

Bookseller
Between the Covers- Rare Books, Inc. ABAA US (US)
Bookseller's Inventory #
400350
Title
[The Vinegar Bible]: The Holy Bible containing the Old Testament and the New / Newly Translated out of the Original Tongues / And with the Former Translations diligently Compared and Revised. By his Majesties special Command ... Printed by John Baskett (1716)
Format/Binding
Hardcover
Book Condition
Used - Very Good
Quantity Available
1
Publisher
Printed by John Baskett, Printer to [the] Kings most Excellent Majesty for Great-Britain and for [the] University
Place of Publication
Oxford
Date Published
1716
Keywords
Religion, Bindings
Bookseller catalogs
Religion;
Note
May be a multi-volume set and require additional postage.

Terms of Sale

Between the Covers- Rare Books, Inc. ABAA

All books are first editions unless otherwise noted. All books are returnable within ten days if returned in the same condition as sent. We accept VISA, MASTERCARD, AMERICAN EXPRESS, DISCOVER, PAYPAL, checks and money orders. New Jersey residents please add 6.625% sales tax. All items guaranteed, all items subject to prior sale. Members ABAA, ILAB. Shipping is $4.50 for Media Mail, $10.00 for Priority Mail or UPS Ground. Tracking is provided for every order. Alternate shipping available by request. Shipping costs are based on books weighing 2.2 LB, or 1 KG. If your book order is heavy or oversized, we may contact you to let you know extra shipping is required.




About the Seller

Between the Covers- Rare Books, Inc. ABAA

Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Biblio member since 2005
Gloucester City, New Jersey

About Between the Covers- Rare Books, Inc. ABAA

Between the Covers-Rare Books, Inc., founded in 1985, specializes in first editions of 20th Century American and English fiction. Our inventory of over 75,000 first editions includes: African-American literature & history, Mysteries, Detective Fiction, Drama, Books into Film and Sports books. We routinely issue extensively illustrated color catalogs, available by subscription. We are members of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America (ABAA)and the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB). Tom Congalton, founder of Between the Covers-Rare Books, Inc., actively promotes the ethics and standards of these professional organizations and served as President of the ABAA from 2000 to 2002.

Glossary

Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:

Leaves
Very generally, "leaves" refers to the pages of a book, as in the common phrase, "loose-leaf pages." A leaf is a single sheet...
New
A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
Gutter
The inside margin of a book, connecting the pages to the joints near the binding.
Spine
The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
Edges
The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
Poor
A book with significant wear and faults. A poor condition book is still a reading copy with the full text still readable. Any...
Gilt
The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
Title Page
A page at the front of a book which may contain the title of the book, any subtitles, the authors, contributors, editors, the...

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