BIBLIA SACRA. Paris, Antoine Vitré, 1652. In-12,... Lot 41

BIBLIA SACRA. Paris, Antoine Vitré, 1652. In-12, 648 pp. (including the title-frontispiece) and 2 ff.n.ch.: marbled red morocco, triple gilt fillet, spine grotesquely decorated, inside roulette, gilt edges on marbling (contemporary binding). Volume des Psaumes alone of this remarkable bible of the Counter-Reformation, known as de Vitré, published in 8 volumes in 1652. Title-frontispiece engraved on copper. Rare and beautiful specimen of a red morocco binding marbled with a brush. The spine boxes are decorated with a grotesque decoration made with a small iron repeated in different directions. This iron was listed as part of the material of Le Gascon, a bookbinder in activity from 1620 to 1653 approximately (cf. cat. Esmerian, II, 1972, appendix A-I, iron reproduced). Some slight rubbing at the binding. The printed title page is missing. (Delavaud and Hillard, Bibles printed from the 15th to the 18th century preserved in Paris, 2002, no. 1040).