[LUTHER - ALLEMAGNE] - BIBLIA - DAS IST DIE GANTZE HEILIGE S - Lot 39

[LUTHER - ALLEMAGNE] - BIBLIA - DAS IST DIE GANTZE HEILIGE SCHRIFT VERDEUTLICHT DURCH D. MARTIN LUTHER ... (Translation: the whole scripture illustrated by D. martin Luther...). Deutsch, Nürnberg, Johann Andrea Endters Seel, Söhne, 1700. One large folio volume, 28 x 42 cm, 13 cm thick, cold-stamped sowskin, ribbed spine, chased metal spandrels also acting as cabochons at the corners of the boards, large chased and openwork plate with double-headed eagle in the center of both boards, cold-stamped scrolls framing a series of captioned figures, beveled cuts, chased clasps partly incomplete. Binding: rare period binding. Upper hinge partly cracked, spine cracked but not missing, slight lack of skin on the second board at the point of attachment of the missing straps, upper headband damaged, inevitable rubbing but not serious. Despite these defects, the binding remains in good condition. The text of the Old Testament and New Testament: engraved porticoed frontispiece (slight paper loss in lower right-hand corner), title in red and black with vignette, 19 uncounted leaves, 11 uncounted leaves, 33 uncounted leaves of tables and index, 686 pp. (short margin on p. 3, p.169 torn with very slight loss of text), 950 pp. 10 ff. n. ch., last two detached and chipped. Minor marginal restoration to the first few leaves, without affecting the text. Illustrations: 11 full-page engraved plates of portraits of the Dukes of Saxony (one of whom, Ernst Duke of Saxe-Weimar, commissioned this Bible), 11 full-page plates of Martin Luther, Moses, the prophets (4) and the evangelists (4), 1 plate of epistles by St. Paul and St. John, 17 plates (of 18, missing pl. 1) each composed of 11 or 12 pictures illustrating an episode from the Bible, 1 p.l on double page of the Flood, 1 plate of Noah's Ark missing, 2 maps of Jerusalem, 3 maps on double page (Paradise, Journey, Land of Canaan), illustrated, 1 pl. on double page of Martin Luther's reception at the Congress of Augsburg. This is one of the most sumptuously illustrated Bibles ever produced. No expense was spared by its commissioner, and the illustrations, including the maps that appear in this edition, are finely engraved. Despite the reported defects, the binding and interior remain in good condition. Only 2 plates are missing. Collation based on the copy in the Göttingen Library, Niedersächsische Staats - und Universitätbibliothk Gottinger. AP