The printer of the Nuremberg Renaissance

[Biblia latina]. Biblia latina.

€ 40,000.00

Koberger's third Latin Bible, printed with the same types as the second, in the splendid Gothic typeface which Koberger used exclusively for his Bibles; at the same time, the earliest type he is known to have used (cf. Klemm, Bibliogr. Mus., 722). Published less than thirty years into the era of the printed book and housed in an attractive period binding, the pages are hand-illuminated with numerous capitals in red and green throughout. The most elaborate of these is found on the first page, in a floral design in brown and green.

Koberger, who is probably best known for his landmark "Nuremberg Chronicle", published his Bible fifteen years prior to the chronicle, marking an important early phase in his career. Reflecting its early years of ownership, the copy contains early ink marginalia and manicules in at least two very early and very distinct hands, mostly in Latin, but with one short note in German.

For some years, Koberger was a leading printer-publisher of the Northern Renaissance, of which he was an integral part. He established the first printing press in the city, and was godfather to Albrecht Dürer. His total output was a monumental undertaking, comprising some two hundred works. "In the actual number of separate works issued, Koberger was possibly equaled by one or more of his contemporaries, but in respect to literary importance and costliness, and in the beauty and excellence of the typography, the Koberger publications were not equaled by any books of the time excepting the issues of Aldus in Venice" (Putnam II, p. 150).