The work was published at the expense of Johann Schabler, called Wattenschnee, whose device with motto “Durum pacientia frango” is on the verso of last leaf. The Testament text is in Greek only and each book begins with a woodcut headpiece and a historiated initial, with some initials after Dance of Death designs byHans Holbein.

Reuss lists this among “Editiones Erasmicae.”

Provenance:  19th-century signature on front fly-leaf of W.C.S. Tole (?); most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  VD16 B4180; Adams B1653; Reuss, Bibliotheca Novi Testamenti Graeci, p. 33. Not in Darlow & Moule, but see 4601 for the first editon.   18th-century full calf, no raised bands, round spine gilt extra; spine pulled at head, front joint sometime repaired taking part of the label and some gilt on that side with volume now strong, corners rubbed and some old abrasions. Interior with a very few instances of old marginalia; type splendidly sharp on very clean pages. (40636)

The text is printed in double-column format in an interesting gothic (i.e., “black letter”) type with many sidenotes and two five-line woodcut initials. An early reader has added two dainty manicules in a faded ink pointing to where God tells Moses he will fight for the children of Israel.

Provenance:  From the leaf collection of printing specimens of the Grabhorn press.

•  STC (rev. ed.) 2077; ESTC S106943; Herbert 74; Rumball-Petre 84; Copinger, Bible and its Transmission, p. 304; Luborsky & Ingram, English Illustrated Books, 1536–1603, 2077.   Housed under a black mat in a blue and white paper folder; mat with one crease, folders showing adhesive residue, leaf attached at bottom margin with a small piece of tape. Light age-toning, some staining at edges, readership markings as above. Early printing of an important passage and a handsome Biblical artifact.  (38313)

Provenance: An inked ownership stamp of notable 19th-century English bibliomaniac Richard Heber (1774–1833), reading “Bibliotheca Heberiana,” appears on the front free endpaper; Thomas Frognall Dibdin added this stamp to select rare books in Heber's collection following the collector's death. Most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Bibliotheca Palatina F5048/F5049; VD16 B3122; USTC 626665. Not in Adams; not in Darlow & Moule. On Dolscius, see: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (online).   19th-century half calf and paste paper–covered boards, spine with gilt rolls and green leather gilt title-label, all edges stained blue; rubbed, slight loss of leather on front joint (outside) and corners, a few small spots and leather repairs, isolated glue action to endpapers. Light age-toning with occasional slivers of marginal staining (possibly thanks to the blue edge stain?), one interior tear touching letters and two marginal spots. Provenance indicia as above, small round paper shelflabel on spine, a few bibliographical notes pencilled on endpapers. A skillfully produced work with a pleasing provenance.  (39566)

•  Adams B1716; Darlow & Moule 4656a; VD16 ZV 1904; USTC 440704.   Recent half brown calf and mustard buckram cloth, red leather spine label lettered in gilt, all edges speckled brown, new endpapers; very gently rubbed, one short tear at bottom gutter of binder's blank. Light age-toning and waterstaining of various darknesses throughout most of the text with the occasional spot. The title leaf has been backed with a later paper with no loss of content; interior blank (only) lacking as above, three leaves with small interior holes affecting letters, two leaves with marginal sections torn away. Readership and provenance evidence as above, with some inked notes trimmed or bled onto surrounding leaves. Read and engaged with by multiple people, and all the more intriguing because of it.  (39429)

The paper stock used for the interleaving has the classic ProPatria watermark and that and its countermark match Churchill's 151, which has a starting date of 1799.

•  Darlow & Moule 4650; Adams B1711. On the interleaves' watermarks, see: Churchill, Watermarks in paper in Holland, England, France, etc., in the XVII and XVIII centuries.   19th-century half vellum with German pastepaper over boards, spine with tinted and tooled label, text recased and new endpapers; vol. I (only) of this production, without the Epistles and Revelation. Title-page creased and dust-soiled, all leaves before pp. 9/10 rodent-gnawed in lower outside corner with loss of paper but not of text or manuscript annotation, and a bit of light waterstaining to rearmost leaves only. An important edition and a singular copy.  (37032)

The first edition of this translation was issued at Rheims in 1582, in over-sanguine hopes that its sale would be successful enough to underwrite the cost of a prompt production of the Old Testament. The two-volume O.T. did not appear, however, until 1609/1610.

The second edition of the Rheims N.T. is a revision of the first, not merely a reprinting of it, and contains a “Table of Heretical Corruptions” not found in the 1582 printing and a new preface. In an era of noticeable decline in the art of printing, this Testament enjoys far better than average typography.

•  Darlow & Moule 198; Herbert 258; STC 2989; ESTC S102510.   Late 17th-, early 18th-century English calf, with concentric blind panels on covers in contrasting tones of brown and tan, all edges deep red; covers with scrapes and bumps, rebacked with hinges (inside) strengthened, new endpapers with 1906 owner's inscription on front free one. Title-page dust-soiled and torn in upper margin with some loss of decorative border, page skillfully remargined with blank paper. Some foxing and age-soiling in early leaves; this similarly at rear (starting around p. 640 and most notable in Tables), with also some dust-soiling and with light waterstaining across a good number of upper outer corners. Overall a good to very good copy, sturdy and appealing.  (33612)

Provenance:  From the leaf collection of printing specimens of the Grabhorn press.

•  STC (rev. ed.) 2216; Darlow & Moule 309.   Disbound. Light age-toning, a few very short tears along edges and creases at corners, with one chipped edge and evidence of three small wormholes.  (38319)

•  STC (2nd ed.) 2947; Darlow & Moule 371; ESTC S121246; Herbert 480.   Contemporary mottled calf, covers framed and panelled in gilt double fillets with gilt-stamped corner fleurons, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label, all edges gilt; binding rubbed, leather moderately acid-pitted, joints cracked, rectangle of leather lost at upper inner corner of front cover. Lower edges of closed book rubber-stamped; free endpapers excised; lower outer corners lightly waterstained at rear; pages otherwise slightly age-toned but notably clean. A sound, good copy.  (24066)

Binding: 18th-century black morocco, spine gilt with spiky-floral compartment stamps surrounded by frames of rules and dots; covers framed in gilt and blind with roll of scallops, dashes, and fillets and with same spine ornament gilt at corners. Turn-ins with gilt floral roll a little extending onto board edges, double-combed marbled endpapers, all edges gilt.

Provenance:  On front free endpaper, 18th-century inked signature of Charles Mays (or Mayo or Mayor) and 19th-century gift inscription “Charles H. Roberts M.A. from Fred Renshaw(e)”; most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  ESTC S90878; Darlow & Moule 4680; STC (rev. ed.) 2798.5; Willems 397.   Bound as above, rubbed, hinges (inside) starting to crack, the whole still attractive and the volume strong; text with the occasional spot, very faint waterstaining through perhaps a third of the text, and top edges closely trimmed touching headers on a few leaves. Provenance indicia as above, later pencilled bibliographical citations on front free endpaper, and “1633" on endpaper in ink. A production both erudite and aesthetically pleasing.  (38430)

Handsomely printed with anengraved printer's device on the title-page by Wenceslas Hollar and woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces, this edition has the text in three parallel columns (Greek, Beza's Latin version, and the Vulgate) with a wealth of commentary above and below. The title-page exists in three states: the present one is printed in black only and lists the print-shop of Roger Daniel without “Londini venales prostant.”

Provenance:  1710 ownership signature of “R. Holde[----?].” Later in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Wing (rev.) 2728A; ESTC R35303; Darlow & Moule 4686; not in Rumball-Petre, Rare Bibles. On Beza, see: Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church 166–67. On the Western text of the N.T., see: Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church 1470–71.   Contemporary Dutch-style vellum over pasteboards with central blind-stamped medallion on both boards within a blind double-rule frame; vellum split along front joint (outside) and peeling at top and bottom of spine. Evidence of silk ties. Title-leaf with dust-soiling and discoloration at inner margin; dust-soiling and light water- or dampstaining variably elsewhere. Overall a sound, decent copy.  (40055)

Binding:  Contemporary calf, round spine, gilt spine extra, handsome metal and leather closures with gilt tooling on the leather; very pretty, simple single gilt-roll border on each board. German floral paste-decorated endpapers and all edges red.

Provenance:  Ownership signatures of I. Duvarus (1774); J.G. Drunnburg (1822) Johann O. Nordendam (1830) on front fly-leaf.

•  Darlow & Moule 8966; Graesse 103.   Leather “shellacked” and shiny; volume now solid with front board reattached using the long-fiber method and areas of spine similarly improved. A sophisticated copy: four leaves of the prefactory matter (b1–4) are inserted from a small copy (possibly even a different edition). Some early underscoring; overallvery decent as a text and very attractive on shelf or in hand.  (36974)

Provenance:  Manuscript ownership inscription of John Ray dated 1716 (on retained fly-leaf); ownership signature of Robert L. Wilson, New York, 1818 (on title-page); gilt supra-libros of Barzillai Slosson, dated 1829. Later in the Howell Bible Collection, Pacific School of Religion (properly released).

Binding:  American binding of dark blue goat, richly gilt, with wide floral border on covers and spine distinctively gilt using rules and floral roll. Board edges with a gilt roll; turn-ins gilt tooled. Marbled endpapers. All edges gilt. Gilt supra-libros of Barzillai Slosson as above. Unsigned.

Barzillai Slosson may have been related to the lawyer of the same name who was active in Kent, CT, at the end of the 18th century and into the fourth decade of the 19th, whose account books are in the Yale Law Library; perhaps, the Barzillai who graduated from Columbia College in 1818 and later moved to Geneva, NY, where he was active and successful in business and civic affairs.

•  Wing (rev. ed.) B2719. Darlow & Moule; 4702; ESTC R236848; Sowerby, Catalogue of the library of Thomas Jefferson, 1473.   Binding as above, lightly rubbed. Pages closely cropped in the 19th-century rebinding and some initial or final letters touched or lost. Very good.  (34786)

Provenance:  The Howell Bible Collection, Pacific School of Religion (properly released).

•  Brunet, V, 350; on the 1708 edition, see: Faber du Faur, German Baroque Literature, 1843; see also: Graesse, Trésor de Livres Rares, VI, pt. 2, 429.   18th-century rust and ochre paste paper–covered boards, gilt black leather spine label, all edges stained red; rubbed, especially edges and corners; one plate lacking as above. Light age-toning and some leaves with soiling to edges or marginal spotting; some lower corner tips with an old limited inkstain; these things by no means calamitous. Ex-library with pictorial bookplate at front, a few rubber-stamps not within plates, library pencillings, and booklabel and circulation materials at back. An emjoyable and instructive copy of a captivating, ambitious, and beautiful work.  (40489)

•  Rumball-Petre, Rare Bibles, 159; Darlow & Moule 4240; O’Callaghan 22; Wright, Early Bibles of America, 24–44; Evans 5127–28; Sabin 5191; Arndt, The First Century of German Language Printing in the United States of America, 47C; Hildeburn, The Issues of the Press in Pennsylvania, 1685-1784, 804. Contemporary calf over bevelled boards; binding scratched and abraded with tears to spine leather, hinges (inside) open. First two leaves lacking (i.e., main title-page and preface) and title-page supplied in facsimile. A printed poem has been affixed to the front pastedown, over a strip of cloth. Ownership inscriptions in German (in gothic cursive) and English on endpapers. Pp. 1–2 with loss of part of margins, some text, and part of headpiece, repaired with paper. Lightly age-toned with darker brown-spotting, some waterstaining, occasional dog ears, and some holing or chipping in the margins — some of the latter repaired with paper. The New Testament title-page is present. (5689)

•  Darlow & Moule 4251.   Contemporary plain brown calf, rebacked, original spine retained, with modest ruling at cover edges, rubbed and abraded with offsetting to edges of first and last leaves from the leather; round, plain spine with five raised bands and no label, leather lost at top and bottom with rear joint opening and leather wanting to peel over spine generally. A little foxing with, in a few signatures, a bit more than that.A good, overall solid, and clean copy of a Bible having multiple points of significance.  (36853)

Provenance:  Two owners have written “Cushing Cooks Book, Norwich Port” and “Moses Pierce Book” on front endpaper; later in the library of the Pacific School of Religion (properly released).

•  Evans 28282; Johnson, New London Imprints, 1285; Trumbull, Connecticut, 1278; ESTC W4406.   18th-century calf, rubbed and abraded; front joint (outside) cracking, turn-ins offsetting to first and last few leaves, front free endpaper with corner cut out, text block starting to detach from binding but definitely still comfortable to handle. Ex-library as above: call number label on spine, bookplate on front pastedown, rubber-stamp on front free endpaper and title-page, pencilling on title-page, paper call number label on spine and circulation materials at back. Provenance markings as above, inking on back free endpaper, light age-toning.  (36742)

George Campbell (1719–96) was a minister of the Church of Scotland, theologian, and principal of Marischal College. He wrote a number of theological works, including a defense of miracles in response to David Hume, and was noted for originality of argument as well as charity towards his opponents. This translation of the Gospels was first published in England in 1789; the work consists of a preface and preliminary dissertations, the actual translation, and the notes, with the whole being very scholarly, resorting frequently to the Greek in the dissertations and notes.

Provenance: Title-page and contents leaf with early inked inscriptions reading “Jas. Booth.”

•  ESTC W4383; Evans 30086; Hills, English Bible in America, 56. On Campbell, see: The Dictionary of National Biography. Contemporary treed sheep, rubbed and abraded with leather lost at corners; nicely rebacked with original label laid on. Title-page and contents inscribed as described above; endpapers waterstained, and pages with light spots of foxing. Paper in many sections faintly blue.  (11489)

•  ESTC W4382; Evans 35200; Hills, English Bible in America, 71. On Campbell, see: The Dictionary of National Biography.   Publisher's brown leather, rebacked, board edges refurbished, original spine-label reused. Old library pressure-stamps and a bit of pencilling, stamped numberwith a (properly deaccessioned). Occasional light foxing and with some marginal waterstains. Overall, a rather nice copy.  (23757)

The book was also issued in the same year as vol. 6 of Wallis' ten-volume Book-Case of Knowledge.

Provenance:  From the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

Searches of NUC and WorldCat find only four U.S. libraries reporting ownership (NN, CtNlC, NNPM, NjP).

•  Original green paper–covered boards, front with printed paper label; spine slightly sunned and rubbed. Pages clean and fresh.  (38808)

Provenance:   From the Michael Zinman collection.

•  Hills 301; O'Callaghan p. 135; Shaw & Shoemaker 36953.   Brown period calf with damaged spine, lacking perhaps ten percent of leather, and rubbing; joints open with rear board firmly attached, front one loosening; old ink and pencil annotations on endpapers. Some gatherings closely trimmed with no loss of text; one leaf torn with loss of part or whole of bottom line of one column, each side. Foxing, browning, age-toning throughout; waterstaining intermittently. An interesting example of how stereotype plates can “move” after they are made.  (35968)

While this Testament is in Turkish, it is printed in Arabic characters. We must also point out that there are copies reported as ending on page 483 — those copies lack the index and are incomplete.

•  Darlow & Moule 9453; North & Nida, Book of a Thousand Tongues (1972), 1303.   20th-century chocolate brown calf, round spine with raised bands and gilt-stamped black leather title-label. Endpapers and fly-leaves with early pencilled and inked annotations including ownership inscription of M. Wordsworth; preliminary and final leaves foxed with scattered spots internally. Title-page with pencilled English title and (incorrect) date. A very good copy.  (39340)

In the upper outer corner of the front pastedown is the large printed binder's label of “Henrich Miller, buchbinder, in der Ost – Dranien Strasse, gegeneuber der Lancaster.”

•  O'Callaghan 146; Shaw & Shoemaker 47206; Arndt & Eck, German Language Printing in the U.S., 2363.   Contemporary calf over wood boards, evidence of metal and leather clasp closures; leather perished, joints (outside) open, front board much loosened but holding tenuously and rear board more securely attached. Foxing and brown staining, as usual. Lacks the plate opposite the New Testament title-page. A good copy only yet stilla touching “story” and a touchstone American Bible.  (35752)

Binding:  Contemporary embossed rich cordovan-colored morocco cathedral binding featuring inter alii the Holy Ghost (in Pentacostal dove–form), the Agnus Dei, and stained/leaded glass “windows” both pointed and rosette. Spine additionally with gilt-stamped title; turn-ins with blind-roll design. All edges brightly gilt.

•  Not in Herbert.   Binding as above, in beautiful condition. First front fly-leaf with early inked familial gift inscription (including an explanation of one brother's having opted out of the group present!); second front fly-leaf with inked dedicatory poem.  (22266)

Provenance:  19th-century ownership signatures of Luther P. Hubbard (undated) and R.T. Hall (1894); after ca. 1954 in The Howell Bible Collection, Pacific School of Religion (properly released).

•  Darlow & Moule 1793; Hills 826; Rumball-Petre 197.   Publisher's sheep, spine dry and tending to flake; front board once detached and resecured with a cloth tape repair at the hinge (inside). Foxing as usual. Priced to encourage better repair to its binding, this is a complete, sound copy.  (33830)

Binding:  Publisher's green “contour” moiré cloth over boards with printed paper label on spine.

•  Hills 881; O'Callaghan 233-36; American Imprints 23377. On binding, see: Krupp, Bookcloth in England and America, 1823–50, Moi4.   Bound as above; rebacked and most of original spine laid downwith hinges (inside) strengthened. Six-digit number stamped in lower margin of one preliminary page; moderate foxing, mostly in margins.  (35413)

Titled in English, the text is in Bengali characters in a double-column format.

Binding:  Brown ribbon–embossed cloth, printed paper spine label, all edges speckled red. Bookcloth is Krupp style At2, whichsuggests the cloth was exported to India in addition to its use in England and America.

Searches of NUC, WorldCat, and COPAC locate only one copy in the U.S.. one in Canada, and two in Britain.

•  Not in Darlow & Moule; nor North & Nida, Book of a Thousand Tongues (1972); on binding cloth, see: Krupp, Bookcloth in England and America, 1823–50, p. 50.   Bound as above; cloth lightly discolored in a mottled fashion, spine chipped with small loss of cloth and printed label rubbed, one mark on back cover. Gentle age-toning with light foxing on endpapers.  (36118)

Provenance:  Bookplate of the Baptist Missionary Society Mission House Library on front pastedown.

•  Not in Darlow & Moule; not list in North & Nida, Book of a Thousand Tongues (1972).   Publisher's textured olive cloth with paper spine label; spine ever so lightly faded, paper label (remarkably) intact. Marked as above, light pencilling on endpapers. A very nice copy with a very good provenance.  (36117)

The American Antiquarian Society gives the date of publication as “[not before 1847?].

Binding:  Publisher's straight-grained green cloth, covers framed in blind-stamped arabesques, front cover with central gilt-stamped bouquet, spine with gilt-stamped title (and “15" at foot). All edges gilt.

•  Bradbury, Antique United States Miniature Books, 1690-1900, B816.   Binding as above, spine and front cover a little sunned, front cover with minute dimple. Pages slightly age-toned, otherwise clean. A solid, sturdy, pleasing example of the genre. (40720)

Binding:  Brown blind-embossed calf with ornate strapwork designs surrounding a central cartouche, “blank” areas textured with a wavy pattern like moiré silk; spine with blind rules “forming” spine compartments.

Evidence of readership: A few passages marked with pencilled X'es and a few pages turned in for ready finding (e.g., the 23d psalm; Luke 7, a chapter of miracles; Revelation's description of heaven). Two slips laid into Hebrews citing verses with names following — suggested reading from or for those people? Prayer memos?

•  Not in Hills.   Binding as above, a little rubbed. Blind pressure-stamp of the York County Bible Society and private ownership signature on front free endpaper. Age-toning and some foxing, brown stain in lower margin of last few leaves (i.e., “Contents”). A rather nice copy made particularly interesting by its signs of use.  (34165)

Among the doctor's publications was an article on “The Accuracy of the Authorized Version of the Old Testament” (1911), including the Hebrew psalms.

Provenance:  Donated by Mrs. Betteridge to the seminary library, with institutional bookplate noting this on rear pastedown.

•  Recent black moiré silk, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label. Ex-library with bookplate on rear pastedown as above, pressure-stamp on title-page, call number in lower margin of second leaf; paper brittle, dust- or sometimes soot-soiled(?) at edges, and prone to chipping. Replete with scholia, this isa stunning testament to one scholar's study of the O.T.  (31077)