Milestones of Science Books

BIBLIA LATINA.

Conrad Winters bible, with additions by Menardus Monachus.

Cologne: Conrad Winters, de Homborch, 1479.

1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Item #002911

20 September 1479. Folio (369 x 270 mm). 406 leaves with signatures and foliation: [1], I-CCCXCIX, [6]. 58 lines and headline, gothic letter, in two columns, spaces for initial capitals, with a 12-line initial "F" on fol. a2r supplied in red and blue with reserved white and set on a square ground of brownish pen-work ornamentation extending the length of the column; other capitals, underlines, paragraph marks and initial strokes supplied in red. Signatures: a-t¹⁰ v-x⁶ A-L¹⁰ M⁸ N-O¹⁰ P-Q⁸ R-X¹⁰. Colophon on X4r: "Anno i[n]carnatio[n]is dominice Millesimo q[ua]dringe[n]tesi[m]o. lxxix. ... im[re]ssum in ciuitate Coloniensi[s] p[er] Conradu[s] de homborch." Bound in 19th century half calf, rebacked preserving lower portion of original spine, marbled endpapers. Little browning of text, occasional minor soiling and spotting, light dampstaining mainly to blank fore-margin of several gatherings (final leaves heavier), a few old paper repairs (all well outside text field), short closed tears to blank margins, lower fore-edge of book block damaged by fire (well outside text area) costing up to 15 mm of paper; final 10 leaves with paper repairs to lower blank margin. Provenance: Gary E. Gorman*; two old paper labels to front pastedown; Collated complete, including the rare first leaf of prologue often absent from other copies. An excellent, virtually unmarked copy. ----

ISTC ib00565000; Oates 651; Hain 3071; Proctor 1165; Goff B565; BMC I, 247; BSB-Ink B-436; GW 4240; Incunabula Biblica 43. Exceptionally rare early edition of the bible in Latin and arguably the best copy that has come up to market in the past 100 years. The Winters bible is rare; ISTC records only 7 copies in US American libraries.
*Gary Eugene Gorman (1944-2015) was a Doctor of Theology, Professor of Information Management at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand and later Professor of Information Science at the University of Malaya, Malaysia. He was editor-in-chief of Online Information Review (Emerald) and served in editorial teams of a number of international journals. His passion was the collection of early religious books. - Visit our website for additional images and information.

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