Autori Vari - Biblia - 1713-1714

SACRED COSMOGRAPHY AND CALVINIST POWER IN THE GREAT DUTCH FOLIO
Impressive edition, Imperial Folio, of 1714 of the famous Statenbijbel, the official Bible of the Reformed Netherlands, translated by order of the States General and approved by the Dordrecht Synod (1618–1619). This monumental three-volume folio set represents one of the peaks of European Protestant culture: not only a sacred text but a political, identity-bearing, and pedagogical instrument. The iconographic apparatus, with full-page watercolored maps, transforms Scripture into a true biblical cosmography, in which the world, sacred history, and the geography of salvation are fused into a cohesive and powerful visual system.
MARKET VALUE
Complete seventeenth-century editions of the Statenbijbel in multiple folio volumes, with engraved and colored maps, generally sit between 2,000 and 3,000 euros, with higher figures for complete map sets, well preserved and in solid contemporary bindings.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Three volumes. Contemporary full leather bindings with blind-tooled covers; spines with raised bands, partly restored; some gatherings loosened, abrasions to the covers. Five double-page aquarelle maps and a large double-page engraved plan: World, Paradise, Holy Land, Jerusalem, Land of Canaan, and Apostles’ journeys. Text printed in two columns in Gothic type, with ample marginal commentary. Frontispiece engraved; browning and physiological foxing; early worming in the second volume. Xylographic printer’s device at end. In old books with a multigenerational history, a few imperfections may be present that are not always noted in the description. Pp.: (4); 28nn; 328; 4nn; 132; (4). (4); 44nn; 436; (4). (4); 168; 4nn; 268; (4).

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Bible, that is, De gantsche H. Schrifture, vervattende alle de canonijcke boecken des Ouden en des Nieuwen Testaments.
Dordrecht, Jacob en Pieter Keur, 1713; Amsterdam, Pieter Rotterdam, 1714
AA.VV.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
The Statenbijbel, first published in 1637, represents the foundational text of Dutch Protestantism. Commissioned by the States General and sanctioned by the Dordrecht Synod, it was conceived as the official translation from the original languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek), with a theological and political aim together: to unify religious practice and strengthen the identity of the young Republic.
The 1714 edition testifies to the full maturity of this tradition. The cartographic apparatus plays a central role: the maps are not mere illustrations but interpretive tools of Scripture. The world, Paradise, the Holy Land, and the apostolic journeys are visualized according to a geography of redemption, turning the Bible into a sacred atlas.
The text, accompanied by dense marginal commentary, reflects Calvinist exegetical culture, oriented toward personal reading but guided by a rigorous interpretive system. The work thus presents itself as a total object: a book of worship, a study manual, and a symbol of political-religious power.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE TEXT
The Bible is the foundational text of the Judaic-Christian tradition, composed between the 1st millennium BCE and the 1st century CE. The Statenbijbel represents one of the most influential Protestant translations, comparable in importance to the English King James Bible, and played a decisive role in shaping contemporary Dutch language and culture.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
From the first edition of 1637, the Statenbijbel was reprinted for over a century, becoming the standard Bible for Protestant families in the Netherlands. The 1714 edition, produced among Dordrecht, Amsterdam, and Rotterdam, reflects a mature phase of the editorial tradition, with richer illustration, and widespread distribution. Complete copies with aquarelle maps are today particularly prized and less common on the market.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
STCN (Short-Title Catalogue Netherlands), entries for the 1714 edition of the Statenbijbel.
Darlow, T.H. – Moule, H.F., Historical Catalogue of the Printed Editions of Holy Scripture, no. 3337.
Poortman, E. – Augusteijn, C., Kaarten in Bijbels, pp. 230–236.
ICCU/OPAC SBN, catalogs of Statenbijbel editions preserved in Italian libraries.
WorldCat/OCLC, international records of the edition.
Van der Krogt, P., Koeman’s Atlantes Neerlandici, for the Dutch cartographic context.