1483 Incunabula Jerome's Latin Vulgate Bible Handpainted Leaf Blue and Red Ink

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First of all, this particular leaf of the 1480 Latin Bible has an addition to the text . It is located at Matthew 26:18, where instead of just saying "and he said," here it states "and Jesus said." This is unique to Jerome's Latin Vulgate. Also, this partic ular leaf of the 1483 Latin Vulgate Bible is unusually marvelous, because someone who read this Bible (either the 15th century "rubricator" who added the red, blue, and gold ink to the page OR a late 15th century or an early 16th century contemporary reader who added the drawing of a "hand" in ink) is literally pointing out to his modern reader what he thinks is an important, worthwhile scriptural passage. He does this with two (2) hand-drawn human hands having an elongated index finger or "POINTER FINGER" (see the 2nd and 3rd scanned images). This "Pointer Finger" device is very unique, and I have never seen this in any other manuscript or printed Bible text--except in a very few leaves of this particular 1483 Latin Bible! Also, this particular leaf of the 1483 Latin Vulgate Bible has two (2) handwritten initial letters (see the scanned images), all hand-painted by the rubricator. Very beautiful! Also, this leaf h as a bookworm hole in the paper . A very large leaf in Black Letter (Gothic) type from a Latin Vulgate Bible published in Venice in 1483 by the printer, Johannes Herbort. It is outstanding edition of the Latin Bible, one of the Fontiubus ex Graecis editions, "a series of corrected Latin Bibles, which claim for themselves--apparently with justice--a superiority above all contemporary edition," according to Darlow and Moule, vol. II, p. 911. This is just twenty-eight 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. InLatin, the term "incunabula" means "baby clothes" or "things of the cradle," and can refer to the earliest stages or first traces in the development of anything. This leaf has rubrication done all by a scribe's own hand in blue ink, red ink, and yellow ink; there are scores of marks, underlinings, and flourishes on this leaf. The colors are strong and fresh-looking, on both sides of the leaf. Size of the sheet is 8 in. x 11 in. The text contains the Book of III Esdras, chapters 12-14 . T here are two (2) large handwritten initial letters: 1 with blue ink and 1 with red ink (see the scanned images) . This leaf contains important scriptural passages. We need to put into context the work of Christian scribes during the last 2,000 years. 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 here. 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. The Nomina Sacra for "dominus" or "dns" is the Latin translation of the Holy Name for the word "JAHWEH" or the "LORD" as it is given in the King James Version. And just looking at one chapter, it appears in the abbreviated form "dns" (with a long line above the "n" to indicate the sacred abbreviation) two (2) times, which are located in the Book of I V Esdras , chapter 14. The winner will receive the original 1483 Latin Bible leaf, as well as a xerox copy with all these things marked (see the last scanned image). Bibliographic description in Frederick R. Goff, "Incunabula in American Libraries," as # B579. The sheet of paper from the 1483 Latin Vulgate Bible is in good condition,... read more

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