Biblia, Das ist: Die gantze Heilige Schrift Altes und Neues Testaments verdeutscht von Herrn Doctor Martin Luther...

Nuremberg: In Verlegung der Johann Andrea Endterischen Handlung [Endter], MDCCLXVIII, [1748]. Hardcover. Very Good. Large format folio (424 x 274 x 125mm). [144], 740pp., [2], 512, 480, [16]pp. Additional engraved title of architectural motif with heraldry of Saxe-Gotha-Altenberg and the flanking figures of Moses and Christ, with their attributes in niches below, signed by J. C. Clausener. Illustrated with 45 plates (including title), most of them full-page (few double-page) engravings depicting biblical scenes and prophet portraits, as well as some double-page maps and plans (temples and Holy Land maps), most illustrations also signed by Clausener. With the rare double-page engraving in rear showing royalty and court members in a large reception hall (Bischöffliche oder Fürstliche Saal) during the “Confessio” which took place in Augsburg in 1530 under Charles V. This plate is usually missing. Persons and part of the architecture in hall are indicated on the actual plate with small numbers [1-47], opposite page lists each number with name and title of person depicted and explanations of parts of the architecture. Engraved titles and decorated initials throughout. Text in German. Gothic script. Contemporary blind-tooled pigskin over beveled boards with brass corner pieces and bosses, clasps and catches restored; (marginal soiling with age, few dampstains or light wear not overwhelming the large work in the least, engravings wholly intact with only minor folds or stains only map of Israel with wide marginal tear, otherwise an excellent survival). Formerly in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, early clippings of poetical quotations (c.1910) found in hinge of first quire.

Endter’s “Kurfürstenbibel” of 1748, an influential Luther Bible with exceptional engravings produced by the Gotha court. First published in 1641 under the authorization of Duke (Kurfürst) Ernst I of Saxe-Gotha. This is the so-called “Kurfürstenbibel” or “Elector Bible” because some of the engravings show various Dukes from the 16th and 17th centuries. At the realization of this major project, prominent Lutheran theologians such as Johann Gerhard, Solomon Glassius, and Johann Michael Dilherr, among others, contributed to the work. This Bible was published with a glossary and added in-text explanations of Luther’s original translation for the enlightenment of “ordinary people.” For nearly two centuries, from 1613 to 1792, the successful family of Endter of Nuremberg printed the text of Luther’s Bible. Specifically the “Kurfürstenbibel” was produced from 1641 to 1758 in fourteen editions. Today, the large-format folio expenditures are amongst the most commonly encountered family Bibles from the 17th, but especially the 18th, century. The Gotha court’s significant pool of sources, as well as favor of the market place in Nuremberg, gave rise to such an important project. Large-format and heavyweight (in every sense of the word), it remains a visually stunning work, with its numerous portraits of princes in woodcuts and engravings, this “Elector Bible” treated both theological aspects as well as those of the courtly self-understanding.