DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.30695#0098
6
THEOLOGY. [Gutenberg; 1450-5.
contains 324 leaves, tlie second 317: making 641 leaves in the entire
work ; as Lichtenberger justly observes. See his InitiaTypograpliica, p.
31. Each of the columns areabout 3 inches and | in breadtli, and ll^
in height; having a space of about of an inch between them. The
oecasional omissions, or variations, in the dots to the i, are considered
by De Bure as the effect of an imperfection in the art of printing; but
Masch says that the semicircular mark is sometimes introduced when
the i is to be pronounced long, and the omission of a mark takes place
when the i is short: yet who ever wrote c mihi’ as two long syllables ?
See the fac-simile.
This work is justly praised for the strength and beauty of the paper,
the exactness of the register, the lustre of the ink, and the general
splendor and magnitude of the volumes. As an early, if not the ear-
liest, specimen of the art of printing, it is a wonderful production.
There are neither signatures, catchwords, numerals, nor running
titles; and the water-marks are those of the Bull’s head and Bunch
of Grapes. In the readings of the text (says Masch,) there is nothing
particularly worth mentioning: they agree, almost entirely, with
tliose in the Mentz edition of 1462.
Copies of this work are necessarily of extraordinary rarity. At
Paris there are two ; one upon vellum magnificently boundin 4 vols:
the other upon paper, imperfect—in which appears the memorandum of
an illuminator, or binder, of the name of Cremer, witli the date of
1456: clearly proving the existence of the Bible before that period.
Mr. Edwards favoured me with a fac-simile of this ms. remark, which
is publishecl in the Classical Journal, vol. iv. p. 471-484. The Mazarin
Library contains the paper copy described by De Bure. The Royal
Library at Berlin has a copy upon vellum ; and three others, upon
paper, would appear to be in the public libraries at Fi’ankfort, Hano-
ver, and Leipsic. In the collection of the Cardinal Lomenie de Brienne
there were two copies (qu. if not one of the foregoing ?) which were
sold for 2499 livres each. See Laire’s Index Libror. ab inv. typog. &c.
vol. i. p. 5. n°. 5-6; and particularly Fischer’s Typograplmchen Selten-
keiten; pt. iii. p. 7, &c. 1801, 8vo.
In our own countjy, besides the present very beautiful copy, upon
paper, there are similar ones in the Royal and Bodleian libraries ; and
a fourth is in the fine collection of Sir Mark Masterman Sykes, Bart.
Maittaire, in the first volume of the index to his Annal. Typog. p. 136,
speaks of a copy of a Bible, in Lord Oxford’s library, which, from his
description of it, might have been the present one.
THEOLOGY. [Gutenberg; 1450-5.
contains 324 leaves, tlie second 317: making 641 leaves in the entire
work ; as Lichtenberger justly observes. See his InitiaTypograpliica, p.
31. Each of the columns areabout 3 inches and | in breadtli, and ll^
in height; having a space of about of an inch between them. The
oecasional omissions, or variations, in the dots to the i, are considered
by De Bure as the effect of an imperfection in the art of printing; but
Masch says that the semicircular mark is sometimes introduced when
the i is to be pronounced long, and the omission of a mark takes place
when the i is short: yet who ever wrote c mihi’ as two long syllables ?
See the fac-simile.
This work is justly praised for the strength and beauty of the paper,
the exactness of the register, the lustre of the ink, and the general
splendor and magnitude of the volumes. As an early, if not the ear-
liest, specimen of the art of printing, it is a wonderful production.
There are neither signatures, catchwords, numerals, nor running
titles; and the water-marks are those of the Bull’s head and Bunch
of Grapes. In the readings of the text (says Masch,) there is nothing
particularly worth mentioning: they agree, almost entirely, with
tliose in the Mentz edition of 1462.
Copies of this work are necessarily of extraordinary rarity. At
Paris there are two ; one upon vellum magnificently boundin 4 vols:
the other upon paper, imperfect—in which appears the memorandum of
an illuminator, or binder, of the name of Cremer, witli the date of
1456: clearly proving the existence of the Bible before that period.
Mr. Edwards favoured me with a fac-simile of this ms. remark, which
is publishecl in the Classical Journal, vol. iv. p. 471-484. The Mazarin
Library contains the paper copy described by De Bure. The Royal
Library at Berlin has a copy upon vellum ; and three others, upon
paper, would appear to be in the public libraries at Fi’ankfort, Hano-
ver, and Leipsic. In the collection of the Cardinal Lomenie de Brienne
there were two copies (qu. if not one of the foregoing ?) which were
sold for 2499 livres each. See Laire’s Index Libror. ab inv. typog. &c.
vol. i. p. 5. n°. 5-6; and particularly Fischer’s Typograplmchen Selten-
keiten; pt. iii. p. 7, &c. 1801, 8vo.
In our own countjy, besides the present very beautiful copy, upon
paper, there are similar ones in the Royal and Bodleian libraries ; and
a fourth is in the fine collection of Sir Mark Masterman Sykes, Bart.
Maittaire, in the first volume of the index to his Annal. Typog. p. 136,
speaks of a copy of a Bible, in Lord Oxford’s library, which, from his
description of it, might have been the present one.