Bevilacqua - Biblia - 1576

Catholic Church/Bevilacqua Nicola

The Bible, now newly corrected according to the oldest manuscripts.

In Venice - 1576 -
With the heirs of Nicola Bevilacqua.

(16), 792, 62 p. Ill.
Sign: *8 A-3C8 3D4, 2A-D8

In large folio - 39.2 x 26.2 cm.

First major edition of Bevilacqua's Illustrated Bible, with the official text of the Leuven Bible and printed in Venice.

Contains 610 beautiful woodcuts, based on drawings by Hans Holbein, Bernard Salomon and Pierre Eskrich.

The Vulgate text is edited by the Dominican Jean Henten.
It is one of the most prominent Catholic attempts to offer a biblical response after the prohibition of the new editions, among which is that of Estienne.

Always esteemed for the abundance and beauty of the images.
GRAESSE I, 395
MORTIMER I, 62
Cf. LUMINI 48

Noteworthy for the preface by Johannes Hentenius, this biblical text is the example.
of the high level of craftsmanship and editorial care characteristic of sixteenth-century biblical printing.

Splendid frontispiece framed in an elaborate architectural frame with volutes and grotesques.
An elegant large wood carving in the center, depicting St. Jerome.
The text is entirely framed within a typographic frame and distributed across two columns.
It contains numerous drop caps, small capitals, and terminal initials.

Excellent, intact and sturdy late eighteenth-century half-leather binding, with rigid marbleized boards.
Spine with four cords, with manuscript.

Interiors generally well preserved, with most of the cards fresh and clean.
A few mild, recurring damp stains, mostly minor, not troublesome.
Frontispiece, on the inner edge, glued to the front guard for about 5 mm, but well clear of the frame.
Exlibris, probably contemporary with the margin of the illustration depicting Saint Jerome.
Reinforcement straps, on both the inner and outer edges, only on the first cards, with slight wear and small tears.
Tear-out, with no paper waste, on A8 paper (15/16), aligned with the typographic frame.
Small paper defect at the upper outer corner of sheet D (49/50 second part), with no loss of text.
Small paper scraps V2 (307/308) and 2K6
(523/524), with no loss of text.
Rare tar-lace traces.
Old glances, but not contemporaneous.
All the sheets of the text measure 39 x 26 cm and are original and without any trimming, as is often the case with this edition.

Nice copy, complete in every detail.
COLLATED. COMPLETE