‎Ecclesia Catholica - In-folio BIBLE - PLANTIN PRESS - Arias MONTANUS -CARTHUSIAN MONASTERY LIÈGE ( provenance ) : :‎
‎Biblia sacra quid in hac editione a theologis Lovaniensibus praestatum sit, praefatio indicat. (incomplete copy)‎

‎ Antverpiae ( Antwerpen ), Ex Officina Christophori Plantini, 1583, format in-folio, 425 x 285 mm, Incomplete copy, (only the first half of the Old Testament is present). Collation: *2,**6 , A-Z8 , Aa-Kk8, and Ll (this last leaf in finely written manuscript). This copy contains the first 426 pp (of a total of 1202 pp). It icludes all the preliminary leaves together with the first half of the Old Testament (until the book JOB). Our copy contains also 12 of the 13 full page/double page engraved plates which illustrate the complete bible, including the engraved title page (missing is the groundfloor of the temple in Jeruzalem ). Binding : Contemporary leather over oak boards, with clasps (clasps entirely missing), one oak corner broken away (repairable). Leather with large portions of blind panel stamps remaining. Binding very worn, parts of leather missing, with traces of old restorations. A curious element of the binding is a manuscript title written on a vellum slip (format 25 x 110 mm) attached on the upper part of the front cover by means of 12 small copper nails (only 2 nails remaining). The two paste downs are large vellum manuscript leaves taken from a 14th-15th c. bible (400 x 270 mm) (neatly written with blue and red initials, written in three (!) columns glosses on the left, main text in a large letter with interlinear text in the smallest letter. (from a Carthusian bible ?). Allthough only 1 part (of three) is present here the most important maps and illustrations are to be found in this copy. It contains the famous world map by Arias Montanus (dated 1571) taken , as all other full page illustrations from the Biblia Polyglotta (1568-73). The map has the word ''Gentes'' added to ''Jecktan'' in the lower left box which indicates that this is the second state (from 1572). Bibliog. Shirley(World) 125, 2nd state. This map is reputed to be the first to show something of Australia (a spurious landmass, probably no more than the engraver's licence) (see Schilder, Australia //20) . All full page ill. in good condion, without trimming. (only the map of Israel show a small hole (size 2 x 12 mm). We thought it a pity to remove this valuable map from the book because as we shall explain below the book offers some interesting features making it worthwhile to preserve it as it is Provenance: The bible was owned and used by the Carthusian monks of Liège. This follows from a (18th-19th c.) note on the fly leaf ''Cette Ste. Bible etoit pour les leçons des matines a la Chartreuse de Liège''. When acquiring this bible we could partially reconstruct its owner history. Last owner was the bible-and missal printer-publisher Dessain of Mechelen (Brabant) Dessain was from Liège and he bought in 1855 the printing business of P.J. Hanicq in Mechelen. The copy is very carefully rubricated with large capitals in red and black in the margin, in a contemporary hand. It also contains many words which have been suppressed by means of small tipped on strips of paper . E.g. Pp a4 recto : two words replaced, written on correction paper strip. Ppa5 recto: marginal note cancelled in ink. ........and so on. We presume that the first users (Carthusians of Liège) did the rubrication (corroborated by a note in the margin of pp. a² ''In refectorio'', same hand as other rubrication letters. Did a later hand (an ''editor'' ?) made text corrections ( in view of new edition ?). This might have been a predecessor of P.J. Hanicq. ( Jean-François Broncart of Liège made a bi-lingual in-folio edition in 1702 ??) Printed on strong paper, interior generally in good condition, some pages with thumbing in lower margin, some marginal paper restorations, two engravings blackened by a prudish censor. Overall good interior condition. Intriging copy of one of the finest products of the Plantin press, albeit incomplete still valuable with its important world map.‎

Reference : 56477

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