AA.VV - Biblia Sacra Vulgatae Editionis - 1758

THE GREAT REMONDINI BIBLE: THE Vulgate OF SIXTUS V AND CLEMENT VIII, VENICE 1758
ABSTRACT
Monumental Venetian edition of the Latin Bible according to the Vulgate text recognized under Sixtus V and Clement VIII. Printed in 1758 by the famous Remondini typography, it is enriched with extensive dogmatic and chronological prolegomena, indexes, plates and numerous engravings. The text, in Latin and arranged in two columns within a typographic frame, also includes the Deuterocanonical books and, after the Apocalypse, the Prayer of Manasseh and the third and fourth book of Ezra. The work is structured in two volumes bound together in one large volume, with a red and black title-page and a rich iconographic apparatus. An example in contemporary parchment, with significant signs of use at the binding but with a still ample interior, complete and with strong bibliographic presence.

WHY TO BUY
MONUMENTAL REMONDINI EDITION – Large folio edition of the Vulgate printed in Venice by the Remondini in 1758, one of the most important Italian printing centers of the eighteenth century.
ILLUSTRATED LATIN BIBLE – The edition includes numerous engravings, vignettes, finials and ornate initials; bibliographic sources register for the first tome 9 illustrations plus an additional plate.
TWO VOLUMES IN ONE – The two volumes are kept together in a single large volume: Tome I of LXXVI + 432 pages and Tome II of 391 pages.
SCHOLARLY APPARATUS – The prolegomena include contributions by Jean-Baptiste Du Hamel, Hadrian Daude, Domenico Magri and Francesco Antonio Zaccaria, with dogmatic and chronological sections.

MARKET VALUE
The market for this specific edition is fairly variable and depends above all on the completeness of the illustrative apparatus and the preservation of the binding. For this present specimen, considering the original parchment binding but with a heavily damaged spine, marginal galleries and good apparent internal completeness, it falls within a realistic auction range of about €450–600.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Contemporary full parchment stiff binding. Spine very damaged, with extensive losses and tears of the parchment in the upper and central portions; stitching and underlying structure partially visible. Boards with stains, abrasions and waves. Title-page of the first tome printed in red and black, within a double rule, with an allegorical vignette engraved. Frontispiece full-page. Latin text in two columns, enclosed within a typographic frame, with marginal notes, decorated initials, initials, finials and numerous copperplate illustrations. The prolegomena include dogmatic sections attributed to Jean-Baptiste Du Hamel and chronologies elaborated also by Hadrian Daude and Francesco Antonio Zaccaria. Internally there are galleries of wormholes in the lower margins and inner of numerous pages, in some cases deep but without apparent significant involvement of the text block, as already noted in the original auction description. Pages with occasional stains, physiological ink blooms, marginal tears and wear. Ancient handwritten annotations are present on the final leaves. In old books, with a multi-century history, some imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. This listing contains AI Visualizations. Refer to the original photographs to verify the object’s actual condition. Images are an integral part of the description. Pp. (2); 76; 432; 392; (4).

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Biblia Sacra Vulgatae Editionis.
Venetiis, ex Typographio Remondiniano, 1758.
AA.VV.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
This edition belongs to the tradition of the so-called Sixtus-Clementine Vulgate, the official Latin text of the Catholic Church for centuries. After the Council of Trent, it became necessary to establish a uniform text of the Latin Bible. An official first edition was promulgated under Sixtus V in 1590, but was promptly revised; the edition published under Clement VIII in 1592 became the standard text of the Catholic Vulgate. The Remondini edition of 1758, however, does not limit itself to a simple reproduction of the biblical text. It presents a vast exegetical, chronological and historical apparatus, designed to make the Bible a study tool for ecclesiastics and scholars. Particularly important are the Prolegomena in Sacram Scripturam, divided into a dogmatic and a chronological part. The catalog of the Košice Library identifies contributions by Du Hamel, Domenico Magri, Hadrian Daude and Francesco Antonio Zaccaria. The edition also contains the Deuterocanonical books and, after the Apocalypse, the Prayer of Manasseh and III–IV Ezra, according to a typical editorial tradition of the great erudite Latin Bibles of the period.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
The Bible obviously does not have a single modern author; this edition is instead the result of a long editorial and exegetical tradition. Jean-Baptiste Du Hamel (1624–1706), French philosopher and theologian, was the first secretary of the Académie Royale des Sciences and author of important theological and scientific works. Some of the dogmatic prolegomena derive from his Institutiones Biblicae. Hadrian Daude (1704–1755), German Jesuit, contributed to the chronological part concerning the Old Testament. Francesco Antonio Zaccaria (1714–1795), Italian Jesuit, historian and theologian, developed the chronological section related to the New Testament. Domenico Magri (1604–1672), Maltese ecclesiastic and oriental scholar, contributed to the apparatus of concordances and exegetical discussions.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
This edition was printed in Venice in 1758 by the Tipografia Remondiniana. The Košice Library catalog records exactly Tome Primus with LXXVI + 432 pages, folio format about 33 × 23.5 cm, nine illustrations and an additional plate. Other institutional catalogs record the complete work in two volumes, namely LXXVI + 432 pages and 391 pages. Remondini production was one of the largest publishing entities in eighteenth-century Europe, with a widespread distribution of religious books, devotional images, Bibles and school texts. The 1758 edition was reprinted and reproduced in similar forms in subsequent years; Remondini editions of 1763 and other reissues of the same text are known.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Biblioteca Štátna vedecká knižnica v Košiciach, Biblia Sacra Vulgatae Editionis, Venetiis, Ex Typographio Remondiniano, 1758; Tome Primus, LXXVI + 432 pp., format 33 × 23.5 cm.
Biblioteca Universitaria / central European catalogs, Biblia Sacra Vulgatae Editionis, Tome I–II, Venetiis, Remondini, 1758: LXXVI + 432 pp.; 391 pp.
Catalogo delle edizioni settecentesche delle biblioteche cappuccine, n. 1006: Biblia Sacra Vulgatae Editionis Sixti V et Clementis VIII, due volumi, Venezia, Remondini, 1758.
Soler y Llach, lotto 483: Biblia Sacra Vulgatae Editionis, Venezia, Remondini, 1758, due tomi in un volume, LXXVI + 432 pp. e 391 pp., parchment.
Aste Bolaffi, Biblia Sacra Vulgatae Editionis, Remondini, Venezia 1758, lot awarded at €100.
Studio Bibliografico Orfeo, ALAI–ILAB, copy of the same edition offered at €1,000.
Gonnelli Auction House, lot including a Remondini 1758 specimen together with a Paris Bible of 1662, overall base €300, unsold.
WorldCat, international catalogues, Biblia Sacra Vulgatae Editionis, Venice, Remondini, 1758.
SBN – Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale, 18th-century Venetian biblical editions.
CERL Heritage of the Printed Book Database, Tipografia Remondiniana, Venezia, 1758.