Between Erasmus and Estienne: The Important Greek New Testament of 1534
Between Erasmus and Estienne: The Important Greek New Testament of 1534
Nie można załadować gotowości do odbioru
[Greek New Testament] Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη; Hē Kainḕ Diathḗkē.
Paris: Simon de Colines, December 1534.
Octavo.
Issued twelve years before Estienne’s first Greek New Testament (1546), this edition represents an important transitional stage between Erasmus and the mature critical tradition of the later sixteenth century. It was the first Greek New Testament printed in France and has been described by Darlow and Moule as “the earliest attempt at a critical text” of the Greek New Testament.
The text was principally based on Erasmus' influential third edition of 1522, which would later form a major component of the so-called Textus Receptus tradition. It also incorporates variants from the Complutensian Polyglot, together with fifty-two otherwise unattested readings apparently derived from manuscript sources. Many of these unique readings are deemed significant, including the omission of the Comma Johanneum, a feature not retained in most subsequent printed Greek New Testaments for nearly two centuries.
This edition is one of the greatest productions of Simon de Colines, one of the most prolific Parisian printers of the sixteenth century, responsible for some seven hundred editions. It is set in his second Greek typeface. It was covertly produced with Antoine Augereau, a Protestant typefounder who was executed for heresy immediately following the completion of this book on Christmas Eve 1534.
The final few quires of this edition (II-KK) contain lives of the evangelists and prologues in Greek.
Extremely rare in both institutions and commerce. The USTC locates no copies in British, German, Polish, or Italian libraries, while only four further copies appear to have reached the market during the past two decades (Sotheby's, 2016; Swann Galleries, 2018; Forum Auctions, 2021; Rare Tome).
Provenance
1. Sporadic contemporary marginalia in Greek, apparently in a hand distinct from those of the other ownership inscriptions, notably ff. 83–100 and 236–7
2. ‘Philippe Barbier de [illegible place name, ‘rornigien?’], Basson(?)’, contemporary inscription in French to front blank verso.
3. Joannes Nayrot, neat near-contemporary (sixteenth-century) inscriptions to the front blanks, one of which reads ‘Quis me possideat, longo si tempore quaeras, semper omnibus notus erit, Joannes Nayrot’ [“if after a long time you ask who possesses me, he shall always be known to all, Joannes Nayrot”]
Condition
R–X⁸ Y⁴ Z⁸ AA–BB⁸ CC⁶ DD⁸ EE² FF–GG⁸ HH¹⁰ II⁸ KK⁹, 1 blank]
Contemporary full calf, boards decorated with a blind-panelled design, not a remboîtage. Rebacked, preserving the majority of the original backstrip and boards, with corners and board edges reinforced. Binding partially detached from the text block. Pastedowns detached from the boards but retained. Unidentified medieval manuscript binder's waste, probably of the late fourteenth century, visible at both ends of the text block. Loss to the lower outer corner of the first leaves through f.43 and again after f.364, without loss of text. Dampstaining to the final few quires, with occasional minor marginal staining elsewhere. Sporadic contemporary marginalia in Greek. Several early ownership inscriptions to the preliminary blanks, as detailed under Provenance. Otherwise reasonably clean throughout. Textually complete, with the H8 blank extant. This edition does not call for a printer's device at the rear. The KK10 blank is plausibly represented by one of the blanks now bound at the front; the final blank in the collation formerly served as the rear pastedown and is now detached and preserved as a separate leaf.
Darlow and Moule, 4607; Adams B1652; USTC 185380, 185383;Brunet V, 736; Pettegree 57855; Moreau IV, 880; Schreiber, Colines, 110
Share
