Beschreibung:

NEW TESTAMENT, in Greek and Latin -- Novum Instrumentum omne, diligenter ab Erasmo Roterodamo recognitum & emendatum . Edited and with Latin translation by Desiderius Erasmus (ca.1467-1536), corrected by Johannes Oecolampadius (1482/3-1531). Basel: Johann Froben, February 1516. Chancery 2° (304 x 203mm). Collation: aaa 6 bbb 8 A-Z 6 AA-DD 6 (aaa1r title, aaa1v address by Froben to the reader, aaa2r dedication by Erasmus to Leo X, aaa3v Paraclesis , bbb1r Methodus , bbb5v Apologia, A1r Gospels and Acts); a-h 6 i 8 k-t 6 ξ 1 u-z 6 aa-mm 6 nn 8 oo-zz 6 Aa-Ee 6 Ff 8 (a1r Romans-Revelation, t6 blank, ξ1 preface to the Annotations, u3r Annotations, Ff6v Oecolampadius to the reader, Ff7r corrigenda, Ff8r colophon, Ff8v blank). 495 leaves. Double columns for Greek-Latin text of the New Testament, single columns for other matter. 38 lines. Woodcut borders to aaa2r, A1r, and ξ1, the lower block on A1r signed by Urs Graf woodcut initials and ornamental headpieces, those beginning the Pauline Epistles (a1r) printed in red, devices on title and below colophon. (Some light staining in upper margins, small repair to margin of ll2 and B3, tiny wormholes filled.) Gold-tooled blue morocco over pasteboard, panelled sides with roll-tooled borders, spine tooled in compartments, gilt turn-ins, gilt edges, marbled endpapers, by Charles Lewis with his name-stamp on front free endpaper. Provenance : Two manuscript corrections on singleton ξ1 and one in Greek on i6r, probably contemporary; few marginal annotations in a 17th-century hand; shield in woodcut border on aaa2r filled with unidentified arms: fessy of gules and or overall, a fleur-de-lis argent. EDITIO PRINCEPS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, and FIRST EDITION of Erasmus's Annotations on, and new Latin revision of, the Vulgate version. Although the New Testament in Greek was first printed at Alcalá in 1514 as part of the Complutensian Polyglot Bible (see lot 2), printing of the accompanying volumes was not completed until 1517, thus allowing Froben to bring out Erasmus's edition first and to secure papal privilege for four years. Froben himself was eager to include the New Testament text in Greek, and a woodcut headpiece, printed in red and opening the central Pauline Epistles, boasts his name in Greek characters. Printer's copy, a 12th-century manuscript borrowed from the Basel Dominicans, survives showing Erasmus's emendations. The four elements of this edition -- the prefatory Paraclesis, the New Testament in Greek, Erasmus's revision of the Latin Vulgate, and his Annotations on the Latin text -- place it at the centre of Christian humanism. The latter two elements challenged Jerome's Vulgate, the received Bible, while the inclusion of the Greek New Testament itself made more widely available the original for study and comparison. Knowledge of the Scriptures themselves and the application of critical method were main tenets of Christian humanism, and Erasmus sets it forth plainly in the Paraclesis, his exhortation calling for the Scriptures to be read by all, even Turks, Saracens, Scots, Irish and women. Adams B-1679; D & M 4591; PMM 46; Botfield 16-38