BIBLE, OLD TESTAMENT, Hebrew. Paris: Robert Estienne, 1539-44. 13 parts in 4 vols., 4to, 243 x 169 mm. (9 9/16 x 6 5/8 in.), late seventeenth- or early eighteenth-century Dutch red goatskin over pasteboard, covers tooled in gold with two borders, the outer a floral roll-tool, the inner with pointillé cross-hatching and solid and pointillé fleurons at corners, enclosing an all-over pattern of drawer-handle tools, solid and pointillé flowers and volutes, interspersed with small pomegranate tools and minuscule star within circle tools, four small owl tools perched on four swirling branches, quadrilobular central compartment containing four very small strawberry tools, star-in-circle at center, spine in seven compartments gold-tooled to a center and corner-piece design, edges gilt and partially gauffred, modern cloth slipcase, joints and extremities rubbed with occasional loss to leather, lacking all blank leaves but one (3N6 in Genesis), vol. 1 general title nearly detached, a few edges frayed, dampstaining to vol. 1 and to margins of vol. 3 with traces of fungal damage to first and last few leaves, paper flaw to G1, Proverbs, scattered mostly marginal foxing, some marginal soiling. Hebrew types, 24 title-pages (the 13 parts and each of the 12 Prophets separately titled) with additional Latin text, quires signed in Hebrew and Latin characters, woodcut printer's device (Schreiber 5) on titles, woodcut head-piece ornaments; Ionas in this copy from Robert II Estienne's 1567 edition (Renouard 168.1), Habacus from Charles Estienne's 1559 edition (Renouard 111.1), and Canticum canticorum from his 1555 edition (Renouard 109.1). Inserted at the appropriate passages are 24 biblical engravings by Peter van der Borcht (1613 or earlier), each approx. 96 x 220 mm., each mounted on a double-leaf bound in on a guard (cf. Hollstein 101-188: Figures de toutes les plus remarquables histoires et aultres evenements du vieil et nouveau Testament, Amsterdam: M. Colin 1613).FIRST EDITION of Robert Estienne's Hebrew Old Testament (with the exception of the three parts cited above). In June 1539 Estienne was named Imprimeur du roi in Hebrew and Latin. During that same year he commissioned a new Hebrew type and undertook the publication of the present quarto edition of the Hebrew Bible, printed in 13 parts which could be sold separately, which was immediately followed by a textually slightly superior sextodecimo edition. Adams B-1221; Renouard Estienne 54.13.Provenance: Contemporary ownership inscription on first title-pages of each volume. (4)

BIBLE, OLD TESTAMENT, Hebrew. Paris: Robert Estienne, 1539-44. 13 parts in 4 vols., 4to, 243 x 169 mm. (9 9/16 x 6 5/8 in.), late seventeenth- or early eighteenth-century Dutch red goatskin over pasteboard, covers tooled in gold with two borders, the outer a floral roll-tool, the inner with pointillé cross-hatching and solid and pointillé fleurons at corners, enclosing an all-over pattern of drawer-handle tools, solid and pointillé flowers and volutes, interspersed with small pomegranate tools and minuscule star within circle tools, four small owl tools perched on four swirling branches, quadrilobular central compartment containing four very small strawberry tools, star-in-circle at center, spine in seven compartments gold-tooled to a center and corner-piece design, edges gilt and partially gauffred, modern cloth slipcase, joints and extremities rubbed with occasional loss to leather, lacking all blank leaves but one (3N6 in Genesis), vol. 1 general title nearly detached, a few edges frayed, dampstaining to vol. 1 and to margins of vol. 3 with traces of fungal damage to first and last few leaves, paper flaw to G1, Proverbs, scattered mostly marginal foxing, some marginal soiling. Hebrew types, 24 title-pages (the 13 parts and each of the 12 Prophets separately titled) with additional Latin text, quires signed in Hebrew and Latin characters, woodcut printer's device (Schreiber 5) on titles, woodcut head-piece ornaments; Ionas in this copy from Robert II Estienne's 1567 edition (Renouard 168.1), Habacus from Charles Estienne's 1559 edition (Renouard 111.1), and Canticum canticorum from his 1555 edition (Renouard 109.1). Inserted at the appropriate passages are 24 biblical engravings by Peter van der Borcht (1613 or earlier), each approx. 96 x 220 mm., each mounted on a double-leaf bound in on a guard (cf. Hollstein 101-188: Figures de toutes les plus remarquables histoires et aultres evenements du vieil et nouveau Testament, Amsterdam: M. Colin 1613). FIRST EDITION of Robert Estienne's Hebrew Old Testament (with the exception of the three parts cited above). In June 1539 Estienne was named Imprimeur du roi in Hebrew and Latin. During that same year he commissioned a new Hebrew type and undertook the publication of the present quarto edition of the Hebrew Bible, printed in 13 parts which could be sold separately, which was immediately followed by a textually slightly superior sextodecimo edition. Adams B-1221; Renouard Estienne 54.13. Provenance: Contemporary ownership inscription on first title-pages of each volume. (4)

Details

BIBLE, OLD TESTAMENT, Hebrew. Paris: Robert Estienne, 1539-44. 13 parts in 4 vols., 4to, 243 x 169 mm. (9 9/16 x 6 5/8 in.), late seventeenth- or early eighteenth-century Dutch red goatskin over pasteboard, covers tooled in gold with two borders, the outer a floral roll-tool, the inner with pointillé cross-hatching and solid and pointillé fleurons at corners, enclosing an all-over pattern of drawer-handle tools, solid and pointillé flowers and volutes, interspersed with small pomegranate tools and minuscule star within circle tools, four small owl tools perched on four swirling branches, quadrilobular central compartment containing four very small strawberry tools, star-in-circle at center, spine in seven compartments gold-tooled to a center and corner-piece design, edges gilt and partially gauffred, modern cloth slipcase, joints and extremities rubbed with occasional loss to leather, lacking all blank leaves but one (3N6 in Genesis), vol. 1 general title nearly detached, a few edges frayed, dampstaining to vol. 1 and to margins of vol. 3 with traces of fungal damage to first and last few leaves, paper flaw to G1, Proverbs, scattered mostly marginal foxing, some marginal soiling. Hebrew types, 24 title-pages (the 13 parts and each of the 12 Prophets separately titled) with additional Latin text, quires signed in Hebrew and Latin characters, woodcut printer's device (Schreiber 5) on titles, woodcut head-piece ornaments; Ionas in this copy from Robert II Estienne's 1567 edition (Renouard 168.1), Habacus from Charles Estienne's 1559 edition (Renouard 111.1), and Canticum canticorum from his 1555 edition (Renouard 109.1). Inserted at the appropriate passages are 24 biblical engravings by Peter van der Borcht (1613 or earlier), each approx. 96 x 220 mm., each mounted on a double-leaf bound in on a guard (cf. Hollstein 101-188: Figures de toutes les plus remarquables histoires et aultres evenements du vieil et nouveau Testament, Amsterdam: M. Colin 1613).

FIRST EDITION of Robert Estienne's Hebrew Old Testament (with the exception of the three parts cited above). In June 1539 Estienne was named Imprimeur du roi in Hebrew and Latin. During that same year he commissioned a new Hebrew type and undertook the publication of the present quarto edition of the Hebrew Bible, printed in 13 parts which could be sold separately, which was immediately followed by a textually slightly superior sextodecimo edition. Adams B-1221; Renouard Estienne 54.13.

Provenance: Contemporary ownership inscription on first title-pages of each volume. (4)