Biblia pauperum

Item Information

Title:
Biblia pauperum
Title (uniform):
Biblia pauperum (block book). Latin. 1470
Description:
An illustrated "pauper's Bible" printed from wood blocks produced in the Netherlands ca. 1465-1470 and associated with what Wilhelm Ludwig Schreiber identifies as Biblia Pauperum ed. VI. Each illustration is divided into three horizontal bands. The upper and lower bands contain biblical text, along with emblematic portraits of prophets with accompanying verses and prophecies. The central band of each illustration contains three panels, in which a scene from the New Testament is flanked by Old Testament prefigurations.
Former owner:
Kreisler, Fritz, 1875-1962
Auctioneer:
Parke-Bernet Galleries
Date:
[ca. 1460–1470]
Format:
Books
Genre:
Incunabula
Block books (Printing)
Location:
Boston Public Library
Rare Books Department
Collection (local):
Incunabula (Collection of Distinction)
Places:
Netherlands
Extent:
[40] leaves : ill. ; 29 cm (fol.)
Permalink:
https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/z316sk08s
Terms of Use:
No known copyright restrictions.
No known restrictions on use.
Restrictions:
Access to physical copy/copies by appointment only. Please contact Boston Public Library Rare Books and Manuscripts Department for further information.
Publisher:
[Netherlands] : [s.n.]
Language:
Latin
English
Notes:
Title from BM XVth century.
Place of production and date from Schreiber, W.L.
Notes (citation):
Catalogue of books printed in the XVth century now in the British Museum, vol. 1, p.6, IB.43
Schreiber, W.L. Manuel de l'amateur de la gravure sur bois et sur métal au XVe siécle, vol. 4, p. 5-6 (VI).
Notes (object):
Signatures: a-v, .a.-.v. (n, o, r, and s of the second alphabetical sequence without periods).
Comprised of 20 bifolia printed on matching verso/recto openings only. Individual leaves signed consecutively in two alphabetical sequences from a to v, the second sequence with periods before and after each signature.
Boston Public Library (Rare Books Department) copy Q.403.96 FOLIO imperfect: leaves a, b, c, and d (first series) and .m.-.v. (second series) wanting. Conserved in 2018: disbound, all leaves removed from stubs, and resewn in modern heavy paper wrappers. Formerly bound in ca. 19th-century red goatskin paneled and tooled in gilt. Spine paneled and tooled in gilt.
Boston Public Library (Rare Books Department) copy Q.403.96 FOLIO: each bifolium divided, with leaves sewn to Japanese paper hinges. Remnants of early glue or paste on blank sides of each leaf. All pages printed in light brown ink on paper stock with a ship-motif watermark similar to the example shown at Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg, Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart, J 340 (http://www.piccard-online.de) no. 156049. Leaf dimensions vary throughout: approximately 310 x 225 mm. Purchased at auction from the collection of Fritz Kreisler (Jan. 27, 1949, Parke-Bernet, lot no. 25). See More Books/BPL quarterly (vol. 11, no.1: 1959) pp. 3-18 for further information.
Identifier:
Q-403-96FOLIO_001 - Q-403-96FOLIO_062
Call #:
RARE BKS Q.403.96 FOLIO
Barcode:
39999089662843