BIBLE. The Holy Bible. Le Nouveau Testament. In... Lot 3

BIBLE. The Holy Bible. Le Nouveau Testament. In Lyon, Jean de Tournes, 1554, 3 parts in one vol. in-folio, fawn calf, on the boards, framed by large black-painted interlaces with a white-painted triple crescent repeated four times, in the corner, green-painted hollow fleuron, wide network of curved gilded fillets with white-painted gilded fleurons, central reserve drawn by a black-painted interlace, in the center, entangled diamond shapes, one with a background riddled with silver dots, the second painted in black, ornate ribbed spine and a repeated iron, alternately cold-stamped or gilded, gilded and chased edges (period binding). Collation : First part : 14 ff. n. ch. sign. A6, *8 and 254 ff. ch. 1 to [508] sign. a-z6, aa-ss6, tt8 / Second part: 218 ff. including 1 f. blc (Nn8), chiff. [1] to [434], sign. A-Z6, Aa-Mm6, Nn8 / Third part: 128 ff. or 256 pp. wrong ch. 1 to 288, sign. a-v6 and x8. One of the finest productions by Jean I de Tournes (1504-1564). It immediately attracted the attention of bibliophiles of the time, some of whom did not hesitate to entrust their copy to the great bookbinding workshops of the day. The text is based on that of the Protestant Bibles of Geneva, the Old Testament on the 1540 edition from the presses of J. Gérard, and the New Testament on the 1551 edition from the same printer. Only the Old Testament is illustrated. It contains some of the woodcuts from the famous Quadrins historiques suite by Bernard Salomon (?-1569), i.e. 181 vignettes, used here for the first time in a Bible, and 11 of the large plates engraved especially for folio Bibles. The volume is decorated with initial letters of the alphabet on a sifted background, and black arabesque bands on a white background. Printed in new Garamond type. Fine copy, very fresh inside. Spectacular and imposing binding, contemporary with the edition. With its design adapted to its format and the use of certain irons, it is reminiscent of the productions of the "Cupid's Bow Binder", a practitioner who worked for Grolier after Claude de Picques was appointed the King's bookbinder in 1548. His period of activity extends from this date to 1555. He worked for famous court members and bibliophiles: Catherine de Médicis, Anne de Montmorency, Louis de Sainte-Maure, Marc Lauwerijn, Pope Paul IV, Alfonso VI d'Este and the Duke of Ferrara. His favorite skin was calfskin. Our binding can be compared with the Cicero bound in 1550-1555 for Louis de Sainte-Maure, which belonged to the Bibliotheca Wittockiana, the Pliny and Jovius of the Rahir sales, and the volumes III and V of Saint Jean Chrysostome bound for Grolier, which figured in the 1967 sale of Major J.R. Abbey. Small stains at the bottom of pp. 1 to 6 of the first part. Extensive pre-Esmerian restoration to spine. The volume is preserved in a luxurious green morocco slipcase showing some rubbing and wear. Dimensions: 385 x 250 mm. Provenances: handwritten ex-libris Debret (?) with code 60, possibly the binding's sponsor; R. Hoe (Cat. II, 1912, no. 187), "Contemporary French binding in calf, covered with a Grolieresque design... A FINE SPECIMEN."); Esmerian (Cat. I, 1972, no. 37, "La merveilleuse reliure qui recouvre ce volume..."). Brunet, I, 890; Graesse, I, 375 ("... par la belle exécution typogr. et les jolies gravures en bois"); Chambers, Bibliography of French Bibles, 1983, no. 191; Cartier, Bibliographie des éditions des De Tournes, T. I, no. 266; Douen, Hist, pp. 307 and 311; [Nixon], Bookbindings from the Library of Jean Grolier, 1965, p. 59 (' nearly all these bindings are of brown calf") and pl. G., irons 2a-2b / 14a-14b / 16 / 8; Hobson (A.), Italian 16th-century bookbindings, p. 106, no. 43; Abbey, Catalogue of valuable printed books and fine bindings, 1965, no. 145 (for an ex. of this bible bound by Grolier's last bookbinder).