Sorry to use this beautiful forum as some kind of personal blog, but here at last I got some feedback (that sounds pitiful ). I've got a new book in my collection, that is the most important one in my collection so far. Arguably it is one the of most important early modern books, printed in the Low Countries! I acquired a part (Volume VIII) of the so called Biblia Regia (King's Bible) of Biblia Polyglotta (Multi Language Bible), printed by Christopher Plantin between 1568 and 1572. The full title is Biblia sacra hebraice chaldaice, graece et latine, Philippi II regis catholici pietate et studio ad sacrosanctae Ecclesiae usum. This bible was printed in 5 languages (Roman, Greek, Hebrew, Old Syrian and Aramaic) and was ordered by King Phillip II of Spain. He sent Benedictus Arias Montatus, who was a famous orientalist as editor to Antwerp. He became a close friend to Plantin. Plantin made 13 editions printed on vellum that were delivered to the king. My copy is printed on paper. The vellum edition is not really in my price range. The Bible parts on paper were printed about 1300 times, the additions (part 6-8) around 500 times and brought Plantin almost to bankruptcy. The complete series contains 8 volumes: 1-4 Old Testament 5 New Testament 6-8 Comments on the Bible by Benedictus Arias Monatus, also called the Apparatus. The book I bought has a very poor binding and maybe I want to get it restored. Because it is very large and heavy (elephant folio) it collapses under it's own weight. The interior of the book is very good. Also it lacks the famous world map. It contains 2 other maps though (it looks like it's taken out of a Tolkien book for me!): The book once belonged to a monastery in Evreux, France It has a few beautiful title pages Some other pictures in the book by Pieter Huys: Watermark of Nicolas le Be (Troyes, France) This is why it is called Polyglotta. An ancient Shekel, by Phillip Galle
Please don't apologise, this forum is also for sharing beautiful antiques of any kind, and many of us enjoy every one of your threads. This is certainly one of them, great find! We know the feeling.
Indeed, SHARE!!! This is me running off to a definition of "elephant folio." Oh, duh! I remember. BIG!
My booknerd self is completely happy this evening . As I showed before, part of the paper was made by a French papermaker called Nicolas le Bé. He lived in Troyes and was part of a large paper making family. Later when I read something about the fonts used in the book, I saw another person with the same name: Guillaume le Bé. He made the Hebrew type fonts for the Biblia Regia! He was born in Troyes. Guillaume was the student of the famous Claude Garamond (see the font list on your computer ). Some fonts in the Bible are made by Claude Garamond, Plantin bought some material from Garamond after he died. Two le Bé's from Troyes can't be a coincidence and that is correct: Guillaume was Nicolas' son!
Way cool. I envy you the space to keep it as I presume it has to lie flat? And Garamond is one of my favorite typefaces.
Yay!!! Father and son united in an amazing book. It used to be my favourite, until my last encephalitis. (The brain is a funny thing....)
Tomorrow I am going to take the book to a restoration company. Hopefully it will not be too expensive .
I hope somehow they can recover the recycled parchment in the binding. All info about this book is welcome. maybe it is possible what kind of text it was.
To show how important this bible is, here a short movieclip about the book by Christie’s auctioneers. https://youtu.be/bHWVEAn4uxc?si=07R1hPYQpW0Imt7A In 2018 Christie’s sold a complete bible printed on vellum for £488,750. https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6154617
