Artworks
    Melikian Collection > Collections > Artworks > Collector's Favorites > First Bible printed in Scotland (#1)


TYPE: Book
DIMENSIONS: Large folio
COMPONENTS: new half calf
CONDITION: LACKS general title, preliminaries and all text up to Genesis 19: 20 (Biii), Oo3 & 4 (Ezra 2:63-7:13), the blank leaf between the Apocrypha & the NT title, X5 & 6 (the last leaf of Revelation [from 21: 3] and the first of the Table) and Y5 & 6 (the final printed leaf--replaced in MS facsimile--and a blank): the first 4 leaves present are frayed removing some of the marginal notes); L1 is torn without loss & the outer margin is particularly frayed; there is an internal tear to O4 without loss and the outer margin of O6 is defective; the top outer corners of S5 (removing about 1/4 of the page) & Kk3 (removing a bit of sidenote & headline and a few letters of text) are torn away; a strip is torn from the bottom margin of ccc1 & 2, removing a line of text from the outer column of ccc2; the top & outer margins of hhh6 (Jeremiah 2: 22- 4: 7) are defective, removing sidenotes, headlines and some of the top few lines of text; the bottom outer corner is torn from rrr6 (Daniel 1/2) removing all of about 12 lines of text in the outer column and part of 12 in the inner and an additional 5 in the outer; ttt3 is bound slightly askew, removing a bit of the sidenotes and the top line of text in the outer column; a piece is torn from the top outer corner of ttt406, removing a couple words from the top couple lines of text; vvv3 has a tear without loss & two pieces torn from the outer margin, removing a bit of the sidenotes; about 70% of the outer column of yyy6 (the last leaf of Malachi) is torn away; the bottom outer corner is torn from llll2, (Susanna), removing about half of the text from 5 lines of the outer column (most of the leaf was at one time torn off and has been neatly but a bit crudely reattached; NT title has some writing in an old hand; the first leaf of Matthew (A2) has a piece torn from the bottom, removing most of the bottom 8 lines from the inner column & a few words from the bottom 4 lines of the outer; a triangular piece is torn from C2, removing a few words from the top 5 lines of text; the bottom outer corner is torn from C5, removing about 20% of the page; a small piece is torn from the bottom of C6, removing a few words from the bottom 2 lines of the inner column; a piece is torn from the top of E6, removing words from the top 3 lines of the inner column; a half-moon piece is torn from H4, removing some of the sidenotes and a few letters from 7 or 8 lines of text; a piece is torn from the outer margin of I3-5, removing some of the sidenotes; ditto K3; the bottom c. 30% is torn from N2; the bottom outer corner is torn from S5, removing about half of 14 lines of the outer column; the margins are abraded from S2 and defective, affecting headlines & sidenotes from V5 (Revelation 4). ***Generally the text is quite worn, with some soiling and staining and minor defects (e.g. minor tears with slight loss to sidenotes); the marginal notes are often shaved & abraded and the headlines sometimes shaved or cropped.
NOTES: Gen2. The Bible... Edinburgh: Alexander Arbuthnot, 1579 AND Thomas Bassandyne, 1576. **Herbert 158. Very few copies have survived in even moderately decent condition - The present copy is about average!
ITEM ID: 373
  • Artwork
  • Artwork
  • Artwork
  • Artwork
  • Artwork

Post a comment

First Bible printed in Scotland (#1)

,
,
DATE
Year: 1576
Decade: 1570s
Century: 16th (1501-1600)

The first Bible printed in Scotland. The printing was begun by Bassandyne, whose name appears on the New Testament title, which is dated 1576 and was finished by Arbuthnot, whose name appears on the general title, dated 1579. The General Assembly of the [by then Presbyterian] Church of Scotland ordered every parish to subscribe the purchase price before the printing was begun. The heavy use these Bibles received in the churches accounts for the fact that very few copies have survived in even moderately decent condition. Nevertheless a surviving example of quite an important landmark in the history of the publication of the Bible and one which illustrates the heavy use to which these Bibles were subjected by common people who had never before had opportunity to read God’s Word.