1480 Incunabula Latin Medieval Bible Handpainted Leaf

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A very large leaf from a Latin Vulgate Bible published in Cologne in 1480 by the printer, Nicolaus Gotz or Goetz. This is just twenty-five years after Gutenberg's 1st Bible of 1455! By definition, an incunabulum (the singular of "incunabula") or "incunable" (French) or "inkunabel" (German) must be printed from 1455 to 1500. However, those books printed in the later 1480s and the 1490s, as well as the year 1500 (which is technically the last year of the 15th century), had more and more woodcut printed initials. This leaf has red rubrication marks all added by a scribe's own hand, and t are scores of red marks through the first letter of each verse, as well as the title listed at the top of each side of the leaf. The red color is strong and fresh-looking, on both sides of the leaf. Size of the sheet is 8 1/4 in. x 11 1/4 in. (= 211 mm x 286 mm). The text block area is 5 1/4 in. x 8 1/4 in. (= 132 mm x 211 mm). The text contains Jeremiah, chapters 40, 41, and 42, and you can examine the Latin text and an English translation at "." T are many memorable passages in the text. Notice especially the two (2) large capital letters "E" at the beginning of the chapters (see the 1st & 5th scanned images).Weneed to put into context the work of Christian scribes during the 1,400 years before Gutenberg's invention of printing with movable type. During these centuries scribes developed two kinds of abbreviations in the manuscripts that were copied and re-copied. The first kind of abbreviation was the shortening or abbreviation of very common words, so that it was easier and quicker to write such words. These do not concern us The second kind of abbreviation was for the words held sacred by Christians. In the Latin tradition, and especially in Jerome's Latin Vulgate text, these were called "Nomina Sacra" meaning "Holy Names." The common example of Nomina Sacra are Lord, God, Jesus, Christ, Holy Spirit, the Father, and the Son. This leaf has the Nomina Sacra or Holy Name for the word "JAHWEH" or the "LORD" as it is given in the King James Version. Just looking at the verso side of the sheet, it appears four (4) times in the abbreviated form "dns" (with a long line above the "n" to indicate the sacred abbreviation) and are found at Jeremiah 41:5; and 41:2, 4, and 6 (you can see the abbreviation "dni" (instead of "Dominus" since this is the genitive case, "Domini" in the 7th scanned image, line 3, 3rd word from the left). The winner of the auction will receive a photocopy of the Latin text, with each of these marked. This is an absolutely amazing leaf of an incunabula Bible. Bibliographic description in Frederick R. Goff, "Incunabula in American Libraries," as # B560. provenance: Formerly in the Copinger Collection of the General Theological Library of New York, having been donated by Dean Hoffman and Cornelius Vanberbilt, and then in the private library of book collector, Robert R. Dearden, of Oaklane in Philadelphia. The sheet of paper is in very good condition, but does show some light browning discoloration, especially around the edges, due to its age and use over the centuries. A very impressive and extraordinary early incunabula leaf. Nicolaus Gotz or Goetz of Sletzstat (who died in 1481, just a year after this Bible was printed) was a famous printer in Cologne and a contemporary of Ulrich Zell. CIBN (Bibliotheque Nationale) suggests that this Bible may have been printed by Nicolaus Gotz's successor, owing to the appearance of a later M letterform. According to the Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke, however, the Bible appears to be Gotz's penultimate work. This is an original 15th century printed Bible page, not a reproduction. Authenticity is 100% guaranteed. The following is from WIKIPEDIA: The Book of Jeremiah , or Jeremiah ( יִרְמְיָהוּ Yirməyāhū in Hebrew ), is part of the Hebrew Bible , Judaism 's Tanakh , and later became a part of Christianity 's Old Testament . It was originally written in a complex and poetic Hebrew (apart from verse 10:11... read more

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