Martin Luther - Haus-Bibel - 1860

Martin Luther

"The House Bible, or the entire Holy Scripture of the Old and New Testaments, according to Martin Luther's German translation. A deluxe edition with fifty-two steel engravings and a map of Palestine."

1860

50 illustrations.

The "House Bible" (Hildburghausen, 1860) is a representative Luther Bible edition that offers the complete text of the Old and New Testament in Luther's German translation. It is aimed as a "deluxe edition" clearly intended for domestic use and for a bourgeois audience that values a dignified presentation and vivid elucidation of the biblical story.

What characterizes it is the elaborate illustration: The edition is equipped with fifty steel engravings and additionally supplemented by a map of Palestine. In this way it combines Bible text, image program, and geographic localization of the "Holy Land" into a total concept that serves both devotion and instruction. Such additions support the understanding of places, journeys, and historical references in the biblical narratives and correspond to the 19th century, in which illustrated family Bibles were widespread as status and educational objects.

In bibliophilic terms, the edition is often described as large-format and luxurious, sometimes with a leather binding and gold edges. Surviving copies, however, often show age- and use-related traces (e.g., foxing), which is not unusual for family Bibles of this era.

879 + 243 pages, 27x18.5 cm. Internally browned/foxed. Binding somewhat loosened at the beginning.