Koberger (incunable) - Biblia Latina (Sexta pars) - 1498-1502

Anthon Koberger

Latin Bible with glosses by Hugo of Saint Caro.
The Sexta pars of this work contains the glosses of Cardinal Hugo of Saint Caro.
Basel - 1498/1502 -
Johann Amerbach

(400) pages.
In large folio - 34 x 23.5 cm.

Provenance: “Bibliotheca Nicolspurgensis Pauperum Matris Dei Scholaru Piaru”.

ONE OF THE GREAT TYPOGRAPHIC AND EXEGETICAL MASTERPIECES OF THE LATE QUATTROCENTO, ENRICHED BY A SPLENDID LEATHER BINDING IN BOAR LEATHER ON WOODEN PANELS, WITH ORIGINAL AND FULLY FUNCTIONAL FURNITURE LOCKS.

It is also one of the most extensive, elaborate, and important editorial projects of the late incunabula period.

The “Sexta pars” of a precious and imposing Bible in seven volumes with the glosses of Cardinal Hugo of Saint Caro, the French Dominican figure central to the intensive Bible-studies campaign conducted by the Dominicans of Paris in the 13th century.
HAIN C 3175
GOFF B 610
SCHRAMM XXI, 27, 649-675
BMC III 759
VD16, B 2579

First edition of the Bible with the extensive commentary of the Dominican Hugo (c. 1200/1263) on the Four Gospels.
The entire edition was published in five years (1498/1502).
A colophon is placed only at the end of the last volume (seventh).

Title ornately decorated in contemporary manuscript style.
Text entirely rubricated in red; first large initial in red/blue.
Seventy lines in two columns framing Hugo’s commentary, also in two columns.
Two additional leaves, from another incunabulum edition, intercalated between q4 and q5, adorn the text.

Anton Koberger, born in Nuremberg, was the first to print and publish biblical works on a large scale and internationally.

"Koberger was chiefly concerned with one book, the Bible" (OSCAR HASE).

Together with his collaborators he spared no effort to obtain the most accurate biblical texts available at the time.
It was a particularly difficult undertaking since almost all the parchments were jealously kept in remote monasteries.
In the rare cases where manuscripts were loaned so they could be copied, they had to be returned in a short time.

Marvellous binding of the period in full boar leather, blind-stamped on wooden boards.
Splendid, and still well impressed, elaborate decorations on the covers, with a central rosette surrounded by multiple borders.
Very robust back with five ribs, with decorations impressed on the compartments and manuscript dedication of the Commentary by Hugo.
Hinges and clasps perfectly functioning.
Excellent preservation.

Very good interior condition as well, with strong, fresh, clean leaves.
Text in splendid early Gothic, fully rubricated by hand with red coloring.
The first initial of the Incipit painted red/blue and ornamented.
Occasional slight browning traces and marginal dampness.
Text enriched by two leaves from another incunabulum intercalated between q4 and q5.
Some marginal contemporary marginalia as an adornment.
Title ornamented elegantly in contemporary hand,
with an ancient precious monastic ex libris of the:
Provincial Library of the Collegio dei Piaristi of Nikolsburg, today Mikulov, in the Czech Republic.
Edges fully speckled with minium.
Original endpapers preserved.

Excellent and rare copy, complete and original in every part.
BOUND. COMPLETE