Hie vahet an das Register über die bibeln des alten testaments

Summary: There were 18 printings of the whole Bible in German before Luther's September Testament of 1522. These were all translated from the Latin vulgate. They are today chiefly remembered as giving the lie to the often expressed assertion that the Catholic Church discouraged the circulation of the Bible in the vernacular. Many church authorities were not pleased to admit that it was necessary to circulate it in German. But they realized that a certain lack of education coupled with the people's desire to know their religious heritage made it necessary to print in German. This is the first printing to include complete printing details in its colophon (printer's statement at the end of the volume). The volume has no title page, and the gathering is not signed to show how it was printed and bound. The editors of the German Complete Catalog of Incunabula list 34 complete copies and 3 more defective ones of this printing.
Signatures: Part I: a-q10, r9, s-z10, A-C10, D8. Part II: a-o10, p14, q-z10, A-C10, D11.
Illustrative and Decorative Content: Woodcuts precede each book of the Bible.
Additional Details: Armorial bookplate of G. Libermore of Dana Hill. Bookpage of G. Kloss, Francofurti ad Moenum. This bible was formerly owned by the nineteenth century book forger George Kloss and was #742 in the sale of his books at Sotheby's in 1835. Samuel Leigh Sotheby catalogued Kloss's library himself and in doing so became convinced, based on annotations in many of the books, that the Kloss collection contained many books from the library of Philip Melanchthon and so catalogued them. This was false, and Kloss himself wrote a letter repudiating Sotheby's claims, but for many years these copies appeared in catalogues as being from Melanchton's library. There is an armorial bookplate of "George Libermore of Dana CambridgeƯ" and the bookplate of "Georgius Kloss M.D. , Fracofurti ad Moenum" on the inside, upper cover. There are manuscript notes on the upper flyleaf as well as on the title page, and manuscript marginalia in the text.

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