[Port-Royal] Isaac-Louis Le Maistre de Sacy. - Sainte Bible contenant l'ancien et le nouveau - 1759

Monumental folio and annotated edition of the famous translation of the Bible, known as the Port-Royal translation, begun by Antoine Le Maistre, continued by Antoine Arnauld and Louis-Isaac Le Maistre de Sacy.

Published by Guillaume Desprez in 1759, this edition opens with a large copperplate engraving by J. Audrain after Galloche. The title is printed in red and black and adorned with an engraved vignette. The text is in two columns.
Includes the Old and New Testaments.

Contemporary binding, marbled tan calfskin, spine with raised bands and gilt decoration, title on a red morocco label, gilt floral motifs in compartments. Red edges.

Condition: Tear at the head of the spine, some rubbing and scuffing on the covers. Interior very fresh, occasional foxing. Paper missing from the last endpaper.

A fine copy of this essential reference work.

Provenance: Library of Mr. Vcte de Gontaut (ex-libris)

Even today, the Port-Royal Bible remains a model of writing; it was the bible of writers in the 19th century and remained for a long time that of scholars. The Council of Trent (1545-1563) had required that Bible translations be accompanied by notes. The Port-Royal translation does not include explanations of the text but a preface considered a foundational text of the Port-Royal School. This 1730 edition does not include the preface but an 11-page warning, followed by a letter from St. Jerome to Paulinus and an "exhortation to wisdom, to the love of the word of God..."

The first edition of the New Testament by Sacy was published in Mons in 1667 (2 volumes, octavo), followed in 1671 by 'the Old and the New Testament'. After his death in 1684, the commentaries were written by Thomas du Fossé and other heirs of Port-Royal, and the Bible, published with the extensive explanations, in 32 volumes, octavo, between 1665 and 1708.

[Port-Royal] Isaac-Louis Le Maistre de Sacy
Holy Bible containing the Old and New Testaments (.) New edition with short notes...
Paris, Guillaume Desprez, 1759
folio (41 x 26 cm); xxxii-1090pp. 1f. (approval)