?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 6,000 - $ 8,000
Bible, New Testament, Greek. Nouum Iesv Christi D.N. Testamentum. Ex Bibliotheca Regia.
Paris: Robert Estienne, 1550.
Folio, editio regia, edited by Robert Estienne, with alternate readings culled from sixteen different manuscripts printed in the margins; the definitive edition; with Estienne's woodcut basilisk device on main title page repeated on A1, the divisional title for the section with the Pauline and Catholic epistles and the Apocalypse; olive tree device on verso of final leaf; Eusebian canons printed within columns topped with elaborate ornamental woodcut head-pieces; foliated head-pieces throughout, with the cherub head-piece on H7 recto; printed in single column throughout in Claude Garamond's Grecs du Roi; bound in full contemporary or near-contemporary blind ruled and gilt-stamped calf, aeg, with an old rebacking that has failed (front board detached, first few signatures becoming detached), ownership inscription dated 1558 on ffep, "Emptus Monspessuli anno 1558 assibus 32"; 16th century signature of Honoré Besson on title; 17th century ownership description at the foot of the title, "Ex bibliotheca Bert. Juliard sanctae Narbon. ecclesiae theologi," ownership inscription of a Brother Ambrose dated 1626 inside back board; sold by New York City rare book dealer Joseph Martini in the early to mid-20th century, with his collation note and catalogue description pasted inside the front board, some limited marginal water staining, last leaf with vertical creases, 13 1/2 x 9 1/4 in.
