Sixtine Bible, Large Paper, Sumptuously Bound
Biblia sacra vulgatae editionis tribus tomus distincta.
Rome: Ex Typographia Apostolica Vaticana, 1590.
Price: $85,000.00
About the item
First edition of the Sixtine Vulgate Bible, large paper copy. Engraved illustrated title-page. Title in red and black, text in double columns. 3 vols. Folio. Italian full red morocco binding of the seventeenth or early eighteenth century, elaborately gilt with triple floral scrollwork borders, stars in cornerpieces about a central motif, stencilled paste paper endsheets, a.e.g. Boxed. Copinger 521; Darlow & Moule, 6181; Adams B1098; BM STC Italian, 1465-1600, p. 93; EDIT 16 CNCE 5805. Provenance: Vincenzo Maria Carafa (1739-1814), Prince of Roccella and Duke of Bruzzano, engraved bookplates (MS shelfmark :H 5); Douglas Maxwell Moffat (bought of Quaritch in Dec. 1939); General Theological Seminary.
Item #371036
The engraved title reads: Biblia sacra vulgatae editionis ad concilii Tridentini praescriptum emendata et a Sixto V.P.M. recognata et approbata.
With the preliminary document, the Bull of Sixtus V, beginning ‘Aeternus ille caelestium, terrestriumq. rerum omnium conditr, ac moderator Deus …”. This is often lacking.
An extraordinary copy of the Sixtine Bible, containing the Vulgate text as edited by Pope Sixtus V, intended as the first ecclesiastically authorized text to be used throughout Christendom. “In its text it comes closer to R. Stephanus’ Bible of 1538-40 than to the Louvain editions” (Darlow & Moule, who discuss the textual variations). This copy includes examples of the printed overslips required to correct hurried printing. The association with Aldus II suggested by Renouard (and lasting long thereafter) is spurious.
Pope Sixtus V died soon after the book was printed, and was followed by three short-lived popes. The Sixtine Bible had “aroused antagonism among both clergy and laity” and was swiftly condemned; the edition was withdrawn by Pope Clement VIII soon after his elevation to the papal throne in 1592, and many copies were destroyed. Preparations began in 1591 for a new edition of the Vulgate, printed in 1592 and known as the Clementine Bible, which long remained the standard Vulgate text.
The ordinary issue of this printing measures 13-3/8 inches tall (as in the Brooker copy sold 2024); the present copy measures 15-3/4.
AN OUTSTANDING LARGE PAPER COPY OF A NOTABLE EDITION.
