BIBLE - LATIN - VULGATE].

Biblia cum summarioru(m) apparatu pleno quadrupliciq(ue) repertorio insignita: .[Colophon:] Lyons, Jacques Sacon, XII Kal. Octobris (20 September) 1515. 8vo. With title-page in red and black with a woodcut illustration and 5 lines of verse, 1 full-page and 7 smaller woodcut illustrations plus about a dozen repeats, and hundreds of decorateduncial woodcut initials. Eighteenth-century vellum with gold-tooled spine label, modern endpapers.

      - (30), ccccc, (53), (1 blank) ll. Baudrier XII, p. 337; Cathedral Libraries Cat. B-1061 (1 incomplete copy); cf. Adams B-990 (2 copies of a similar Bible); Darlow & Moule 6093 (similar Bible). An early octavo edition of the Vulgate Old and New Testament, with a commendatory verse by Matthias Sambucellus on the title-page, Franciscus Gothi's "Compendiolum" (a thirty-page appendix providing verse epitomes of the books of the Old and New Testament, intended as a mnemonic aid), the interpretations of the Hebrew names, and marginal notes and cross-references. The woodcut on the title-page shows Saint Jerome with pen in hand at his writing table. Next to him is a table with six bound volumes, two open on a rotating book stand. The full-page woodcut shows six small scenes of the six days of creation, with a decorated border around and between them, and the smaller woodcuts in the text are charming scenes and portraits.Froben published the first octavo Bible at Basel in 1491, bringing the complete Bible text within reach of a larger public, though still limited to those well enough educated to read Latin. Luther promulgated his famous theses only two years after the present edition, and his German translation didn't begin to appear until 1522. The present text is based on Petri and Froben's 1509 folio edition, though indirectly via Mareschal's 1510 Lyons octavo edition. The verse on the title-page first appeared in the 1509 edition, but Mareschal altered the last line to remove the reference to Basel. Mareschal also appears to have added the verse epitomes. Froben's editions were highly regarded for their accurate texts, so they served as the best standard for others to follow.In very good condition, with the with the trim at the head on three pages just touching the running heads, and the title-page reinforced in the gutter. Binding slightly worn. A nice example of the Bible (with woodcuts) reaching out to a broader public on the eve of the Protestant Reformation.