EDITIO PRINCEPS OF THE ENTIRE BIBLE IN DANISH

BIBLIA DANICA

Biblia, Det er den gantske Hellige Scrifft, vdsæt paa Danske.

Københaffn, Ludowich Dietz, 1550.

Folio. Senere helpergamentsbind. Kalligraferet rygtitel. Fællestitelbladet trykt i rødt og sort. 552 blade, inclusiv de to blanke. Med alle deltitelblade. Christian III' træstukne portræt (udført af hofmaler Jacob Binck). Rigsvåbnet i helsides træsnit. Ca. 25 blade, forrest og bagerst, omkantede og reparerede. En del reparationer af smårifter. En del kantforstærkninger som i nogle tilfæde medfører tab af bogstaver i marginalnoterne. Nogle blade med lidt teksttab. Forreste titelblad repareret i nederste højre hjørne. Rigsvåbnet repareret i ydre margin med rekonstruktion af rammen. Spredte skjolder i marginer. Spredte brugsspor. Enkelte blade antageligt indsatte fra et andet eksemplar. En del gl. ejernavne (præster). Gennemillustret med træsnit af Erhard Altdorfer i teksten og helsides.

Folio. A bit later full vellum binding with handwritten title to spine. Joint title-page printed in red and black. 552 leaves, including the two blanks. With all the half-titles (which is very rarely the case . 25 ff in front and back re-edged and with restoration. Several smaller tears and repairs. Several marginal re-inforcements, which occasionaly cause loss of lettering to the marginal notes. A few leaves with slight loss of text. First title-page with a repair to lower right corner. The royal arms restored at outer margin, with a reconstruction of the frame. Scattered damp staining to margins and scattered signs of wear. A few leaves presumably supplied from another copy. Several perevious owners' names (presumably priests). Illustretaed throughout, with woodcuts by Erhard Aldorfer, both in the text and full page. Complete.

The rare editio princeps of the Bible in Danish, the first full Danish bible, and the first Danish folio bible, which is extremely rare to find complete. For this magnum opus of the Danish Reformation, the King not only hired the best theologians of the country, he also summoned the famous German printer Ludwig Dietz from Rostock.

"This first translation of the entire Bible stands as a monument of the Danish Reformation, and the influence it excercised, both at the time and subsequently, cannot be overemphasized. The translation was commanded by King Christian III, and nothing was spared in order to make it as perfect as possible. The best danish theologians worked on the translation, but it was not until 1548 that the work had progresses so far that a printing could be implemented.... A German printer, Ludwig Dietz from Rostock, was therefore summoned. Already in 1534 he had printed a complete Bible in Low german, and in 1548 he came to Copenhagen with his printing material... It is copied from the Lübeck 1534 edition of Luther's German Bible, and is illustrated with many woodcuts by Erhard Altdorffer." (Thesaurus).

Order-nr.: 55412