Incunabula. Bible, A.T., Latin, 1476. Venice,... Lot 10

[Incunabula]. Bible, A.T., Latin, 1476]. Venice, Nicolas Jenson, 1476. Large folio, 18th century soft parchment, smooth spine, black basane title-piece (spine torn off at head and defects including stains on upper board; rare soiling and foxing, transfers opposite some initials; snags in margins of f. h9 and k3, pen tests in margin f. H2; 5 leaves missing, 2 blank, 2 leaves replaced). Rare and important first Bible from the presses of Nicholas Jenson, belonging to the group of the very first Bibles printed in Venice. The text is based on the edition given in Venice the year before, by Franciscus Renner. This volume contains only the Old Testament. Text in transitional gothic type, in two columns of 52 lines; many initials painted in red and black; 100 of them larger and accompanied by finely drawn ornaments extending into the margins. Nicolas Jenson (ca. 1430 ca. 1480) was one of the very first printers in Venice. Of French origin, an engraver by training, he was sent to Mainz, on the orders of Charles VII, to learn the secret of movable type; thus he most probably worked for the printers Johann Fust and Peter Schöffer. He left Mainz for Venice where he probably arrived at the end of 1469, the year in which the first book printed in that city appeared. He quickly established himself and became one of the main suppliers to the universities of Padua, Ferrara, Bologna and Pavia, and one of the most successful printers in Venice. When in 1479 he published his second edition of the Bible in Latin, Pope Sixtus IV conferred on him the title of Count Palatine. Sign. a 5]-10, b-z 10, [special: 3 quires] 10, A-G 10, H 9. Leaves a1 (blank), a2-4 (Prologue), and H10 (blank) are missing; leaves a5 and a6, beginning with "Incipit liber Genesis," were formerly redone by hand with great care, late 15th or early 16th c., in ink imitating typographical composition, with initials painted in red and blue, and at the beginning, a beautiful initial painted in color and gold, with a floral ornament. (Paris Bibles, 697; HC 3061; GW 4222; Pell 2290; CIBN B-382; Hillard 377).