True 1599 Quarto Geneva Bible with Metalwork and Oak Boards

The Bible: Translated according to the Ebrew and Greeke, and conferred with the best translations in divers Languages. With most profitable Annotations…

Summary

A true 1599 black letter Geneva Bible with both titles. Bound in beveled oak boards with metalwork and blind tooling to covers, and with the Book of Common Prayer and Psalter.

Description

Begins with the Book of Common Prayer with the last leaf of the Calendar. General title page (1599) with woodcut architectural border featuring Lady Justice and Mercy. Text in two column black letter. With Apocrypha as issued. New Testament title page (1599) with similar woodcut border. Title is enclosed within a rectangular frame. With Two Right Profitable and Fruitful Concordances by R[obert] F. H[errey] with printed title page and colophon (n.d.). Bound with The Whole Booke of Psalmes by Sternhold and Hopkins with printed title page featuring printer’s device (1595). First chapter woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces throughout.

Collation

[par]^2, A-Z^8, Aa-Zz^8, Aaa-Hhh^8, Iii^2 [Old Testament], *^4, Kkk-Yyy^8, Zzz^10. Complete with both title pages.

Binding

Contemporary calf with concentric blind-rolled frames over beveled oak boards. Decorative brass corner pieces central bosses, and hasps. Rebacked in dark calf with five raised bands and a green morocco label with the words “Geneva Bible 1599” lettered in gilt. Endpapers renewed.

Condition

Occasional dust soiling and light marginal staining but a clean text. Ii8 with lower marginal repair; Tt3 lower inner marginal repair with loss of a few words of the notes; Xxx8 upper marginal repair with loss to a few words of the headlines; Psalter lacking final leaf of Prayers and a couple of leaves remargined; Upper board without upper right corner piece; rubbed, lacking clasps.

Provenance

Early ownership inscription to foot of title reads “Jer: Clarke his Book”.

Note

Unlike the many pirated Geneva Bibles bearing a false 1599 London imprint, this copy is an authentic artifact. Featuring black letter text and bound with the Apocrypha, it lacks the later heart-shaped general title pages. Printed in London toward the end of the sixteenth century, this edition is a relatively clean example of a Bible that saw approximately ten reprints with counterfeit 1599 title pages.

References

Herbert 247.