The Bible and the Holy Scriptures Conteined in the Olde and Newe Testament…

The First Bible Printed in Scotland

Summary: Edinburgh: Arbuthnot and Bassandyne, 1579. Folio (12.5” x 8.5” x 2.5”). An illustrated Geneva Bible, the first Bible printed in Scotland. The printing was begun by Bassandyne, whose name appears on the New Testament title page, but was finished by Arbuthnot three years later.

Description: General title page (1579) with the arms of Jacob Sextus, supported by two unicorns, with the words “God Save the King.” Set of 26 illustrations. The maps at Numbers 33 and Ezekiel are in facsimile. Includes the Apocrypha as issued. New Testament title page (1576) with similar woodcut. Woodcut first chapter initials, woodcuts, and colophons.

Collation: [par]^8, a-z^6, aa-zz^6, aaa-zzz^6, aaaa-pppp^6, A-Y^6, Z^8. Lacks Y6, Z1, Z7 from the Table with Z2-6 provided in good facsimile. The eight preliminary leaves following the general title also provided in good facsimile.

Binding: Attractive brown paneled calf. Double blind-rolled and ruled panels with corner fleurons to boards. Spine with five blind-ruled raised bands and extensive tooling to compartments. One red morocco label with the words “Holy Bible” lettered in gilt and the words “Edinburgh 1579” in gilt to bottom of spine. Plain endpapers.

Condition: General title page mounted on a stub and inserted from another copy. The following 8 preliminary leaves are supplied in good facsimile; a1-e2 (Gen 1-Ex 3:21) the edges are defective, at first affecting sidenotes and text, but gradually improving so that the repairs to the bottom margins of e3-4 affect only the catchword; though the repairs are crude and the whole is unsightly, relatively little text is missing. Headlines are occasionally shaved or even cropped; the bottom & outer margins are occasionally smaller, perhaps indicating that the leaves in question have been inserted from a smaller copy (e.g. kk, hhh); Qq6 there is a hole (perhaps a paper flaw) toward the top of the outer column, removing a few letters on 4 lines of text; Xx5 the bottom 3” is torn from the outer margin, removing a couple of letters from the bottom 10 lines of the sidenotes; the Psalms is somewhat soiled from use; Dd2 the bottom outer corner has been torn away, removing text from about 6 lines, and has been crudely repaired; Ss1 (Dan 2) the bottom outer corner is torn away, removing a few words from 3 lines of sidenotes; Ttt3 a closed tear, crudely repaired and the bottom outer corner is torn from this leaf; there are a few minor marginal repairs in the NT; toward the end of the NT the bottom outer corners are somewhat rounded, occasionally removing a few letters of sidenotes (e.g., R4, S2-3, V1-2); V3 onward (Jude) there are various relatively crude repairs, with marginal defects (minor at first, but growing in the Brief Table which follows Revelation).

Note: The General Assembly of the [by then Presbyterian] Church of Scotland ordered every parish to subscribe the purchase price before the printing was begun. The heavy use these Bibles received in churches accounts for the fact that very few copies have survived in even moderately decent condition; the present copy is in much better than average condition. A good example of an important landmark in the history of the publication of the Bible. RBH shows only seven copies at auction in the last 50 years.

References: Herbert 158; Luborsky 2125; ESTC S122098.

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