Biblia sacra ad optima veteris, ut vocant, tralationes exemplaria summa diligentia, pariq[ue] fide castigata by [BIBLE IN LATIN]; SALOMON, Bernard, illustrator; ESTIENNE, Robert, translator

Lyon: Jean de Tournes, 1554. A Fine 1554 Robert Estienne Biblia Sacra
With One Hundred and Ninety-Eight Superb Woodcuts by Bernard Salomon

[BIBLE IN LATIN]. Biblia sacra ad optima veteris, ut vocant, tralationes exemplaria summa diligentia, pariq[ue] fide castigata. Lyon: Jean de Tournes, 1554.

First De Tournes Latin Bible, based on Robert Estienne's text, and beautifully illustrated with 198 woodcuts by Bernard Salomon.

Octavo (6 3/4 x 4 3/4 inches; 171 x 121 mm.) . [16], 1152, [76] pp. Arabesque title border and 198 (with 1 repeat) woodcuts in the text by Bernard Salomon. *Bound without the last two blank leaves. Title-page with faint early ink "ex-Libris petri ------ at top blank margin. Title-page expertly cleaned, some occasional mainly marginal faint foxing, otherwise a superb example of this wonderfully illustrated mid sixteenth-century Latin Bible.

Contents: Old Testament; Psalms; New Testament, Epistles, Acts; Index Testimoniorum & Index Epistolarum.

Bound ca. 1880 by Chambolle-Duru in full brown crushed levant morocco, spine with five raised bands, lettered in gilt, gilt ruled board edges, decorative gilt turn-ins, marbled endpapers, all edge gilt. Armorial bookplate "In Memori: Weiler, Bibliotheca Trautner Falkiana" on verso of front free endpaper.

*As in most copies (e.g. Mortimer, OCLC) the last two leaves have been discarded. The penultimate leaf had only a fleuron at the foot of the page and the final leaf was blank.

First De Tournes Latin Bible, based on Robert Estienne's text, and beautifully illustrated with 198 woodcuts by Bernard Salomon. "Considerable work could be done on Salomon's sources for these cuts. The Expulsion from Paradise suggests Holbein's version; the New Testament shows some dependence on the set owned by Sébastien Gryphius... the Apocalypse blocks are enlarged copies of the fine Janot Apocalypse. But the cumulative effect of Salomon's carefully detailed scenes is that of an individual contribution to Bible illustration. Particularly interesting from the point of view of technique are the night scenes in Exodus and the storm over Noah's ark... In this 1554 Bible, the New Testament blocks are printed with arabesque strip borders at the sides. Arabesque and type ornament headpieces..." (Mortimer)

Robert I Estienne (1503-1559) was a 16th-century printer in Paris. He was the proprietor of the Estienne print shop after the death of his father Henri Estienne, the founder of the Estienne printing firm. Estienne published and republished many classical texts as well as Greek and Latin translations of the Bible. It was Estienne who created the best and final system of verse division and numbering that our Bibles exhibit today. Known as "Printer to the King" in Latin, Hebrew, and Greek, Estienne's most prominent work was the Thesaurus linguae latinae which is considered to be the foundation of modern Latin lexicography. Additionally, he was the first to print the New Testament divided into standard numbered verses. He was a former Catholic who became a Protestant late in his life. Many of his published Bibles included commentary which upset the Catholic theologians of the Sorbonne who sought to censor Estienne's work. Eventually, overcome by the prejudice of the Sorbonne, Estienne and his family fled to Geneva where he continued his printing uncensored, publishing many of the works of John Calvin.

Bernard Salomon (1506-1561) was a French painter, draftsman and engraver. Little is known of the life of Bernard Salomon (also known as the Little Bernard B. Gallus or Gallo). His family may have been belt-makers in Lyon. He was commissioned to provide decorations for Ippolito II d'Este in 1540, Henry II of France in 1548, and Jacques Dalbon, Seigneur de Saint Andre in 1550. He worked closely with the printer Jean de Tournes to design, engrave, and illustrate many types of books such as emblem books, documentaries and scientific works, and literary works, including the Bible and Ovid's Metamorphoses (Lyon, Tournes, 1557). Salomon's figures were inspired by the elegant Mannerist art of the School of Fontainebleau, and were inspiration for engravers working in Lyon and became widely distributed and copied. He had a daughter who married the printer Robert Granjon. He is sometimes referred to as "'Petit", alluding to the intricate detail Salomon works into his designs in miniature scale.

Brunet, I, 876 & Supplement I, 125; Darlow & Moule 6134 (note); Mortimer, French no. 81.