Biblia [German].

Nuremberg: Anton Koberger, 17 Feb. 1483.
Fol. [1⁴ 2-4⁸ 5⁶ 6-37⁸ 38⁶ 39-72⁸ 73-75⁶]. ‘Das erſt Blat’, II-CCXCV, [2], CCXCVI-CCCCCLXXXIII, [1] leaves (38/6, 39/1, 75/6 i.e. the three unnumbered leaves 296, 297, 586 are blank).
Woodcuts.
ISTC ib00632000;  GW 4303;  Goff B632;  BMC II 424 (IC. 7283);  Bod-inc B-330;  CIBN B-444;  BSB-Ink B-490.

Two copies listed in Glasgow Incunabula Project; copy 1 held by University of Glasgow Library and copy 2 held by The Burrell Collection

Copy 1

GIP number:	B38
Shelf-mark:	Sp Coll Euing Add. f52 (see main library entry for this item)
Provenance:	Unidentified owner (late 17th century): heavily erased inscription beginning “M[...] A. 1690” on a fabricated title-page inserted at the front of the book. University of Glasgow Library: acquired in 1914; accession number 445-1914 on University Library bookplate; source unknown.
Binding:	Germany, 16th-century blind-tooled pigskin over partially bevelled wooden boards;  covers have a centre panel whose decoration includes an oval shape in the middle and four corner-pieces resembling entwined foliage;  the panel is bordered by three frames formed by fillets and three different decorative rolls;  two brass and pigskin fore-edge clasps with catch plates on front board;  each board has four brass corner-pieces with bosses and a diamond-shaped brass centre-piece with boss (one corner-piece now lost at the inner top corner of the front board);  spine undecorated;  manuscript spine titles in black and red ink;  19th-century marbled pastedowns;  19th-century flyleaves (second rear flyleaf has watermark of a column with serpent entwined and with the letter “W” at one side).  Bound-in at the front is a sheet of red and gold decorated paper on which is pasted a fabricated printed title-page (17th century) “Biblia.  Das ist: Alle Buecher / Alts- vnd Neus- Testaments / nach Alter in Christlicher Kirchen gehabter Translation treulich verteutscht / vnd mit vilen Figuren erleutert durch Antonium Koburger. Gedruckt in Nuernberg ... Vierzehenhundert vnd in dem Drey vnd Achzigsten Jahr”.  Blue-edged leaves;  numerous leather tabs;  early manuscript shelfmark “Bi.II.3.” in red ink at foot of spine, partially obscured by a round paper label (19th century) bearing the ink number “960”.   Size:  363 x 253 mm.
Leaf size:	350 x 245 mm.
Annotations:	Shelfmark “Bi.II.3.” in red ink in an early hand on a slip of paper pasted onto fol. CCCCCLXXXIII verso - see also Binding;  number “174F” in ink in a 19th-century hand on second rear flyleaf;  inscriptions “première édit. très rare” and “Collated.  Perfect HSG(?)” both in pencil in 19th-century hands on recto of front flyleaf, together with two unread annotations (codes?) in pencil;  heavily erased inscription on verso of front flyleaf.
Decoration:	Woodcuts throughout are painted in several vibrant colours;  an eight-line initial “B” in column one of 1/1r is supplied in shades of blue to represent foliage and is set on a rectangular ground of patterned gold, edged with a border in alternate red and green, from which foliate decoration extends into the inner margin;  a similarly decorated seven-line initial “I” is supplied on f. V recto;  other principal initials are supplied in red and blue with reserved white and embellished with green and purple pen-work;  smaller initials supplied in red or blue, often with flourishes;  after f. CCXCV (i.e. the end of the Psalter) initials are supplied only in red or in red with reserved white, often with marginal flourishes;  capital strokes and paragraph marks supplied throughout in red.
Imperfections:	Wanting the three blank leaves 38/6, 39/1, 75/6 (i.e. ff. 296, 297, 586).

Copy 2

Shelf-mark:	4.1 Bible
Provenance:	Buxheim, Bavaria, Carthusians, BVM;  Carthusian abbey of S. Maria, near Memmingen in the diocese of Augsburg;  founded in 1402 by Henri de Ellerbach and suppressed in 1803:  inscriptions on CCXCVI recto “Das bůch gehörtt den carthüser zů büchshain von stainbächin geerbt 1513”, and on CCCCCLXXXIII verso “Das bůch gehert den cartüser zů büchshaim von dem erb der armen stainbächin 1513”;  a rmorial bookstamp “BIBL. BUXHEIM:” on CCXCVI recto. Graf von Ostein:  the Buxheim books books became the property of Graf von Ostein in 1803, passing to his sister, Gräfin von Hatzfeld, in 1809, and then to their cousin, Graf Friedrich Karl Waldbott von Bassenheim, in 1810;  the books were finally sold in 1883 by Graf Hugo von Waldbott-Bassenheim (1820-1895). Sir William Burrell (1861-1958), Scottish shipping magnate and art collector:  source unknown. Glasgow: Burrell Collection;  donated to the city of Glasgow, 1944.
Binding:	Germany, 16th-century blind-tooled pigskin over bevelled wooden boards.  The front cover has a lozenge-shaped centre panel formed by a roll of medallion heads with separate floral stamps in the middle of the lozenge;  the panel is bordered with four rectangular frames formed by fillets and blind-stamped rolls:  the first frame is a repeat of the medallion heads roll;  the second frame is a roll with the figures of “FIDES”, “PRVDENCIA”, “SPES”, and “CARITAS”;  the third frame is a roll of Biblical figures “ECCE AGNVS DEI”, “GRACIA P[ER] CHRISTV”, “P. DOCTOR GENC”, and “LEX MOSEN”;  the fourth frame is a roll of interlinked foliage.  The rear cover has a different design of four small mitred rectangles, each decorated with separate acorn and flower stamps and arranged in two rows of two;  the panels are separated by fillets and two rolls (the “FIDES” AND “ECCE AGNVS DEI” rolls of the front cover) resulting in a large rectangular design, which is set within two frames formed by fillets and two rolls (the “ECCE AGNVS DEI” roll and the roll of interlinked foliage of the front cover).  The undecorated spine has a paper label affixed to the top compartment with the number “INC/1” in black ink;  in the compartment below, the word “Dupl” is written in pencil;  affixed to the bottom compartment is a paper label with the manuscript shelfmark “B.218” written in red ink.  Two chased brass and calf clasps, with catch plates on front board.   Size: 404 x 285 mm.
Leaf size:	381 x 269 mm.
Annotations:	Occasional marginal annotations in German in a 16th/17th-century hand;  19th-century pencil annotations on front pastedown “20033”, “11.XI.29” scored through and replaced with “22/III.30”, and a reference to Hain 3137.
Decoration:	On CCXCVI recto a five-line initial “D”, which is supplied in purple with white tracery, is set on a rectangular gold ground decorated with punch-dotting within a green frame and with foliate extensions into the margin;  on the same page a similarly decorated seven-line initial “D” is supplied in blue with white tracery;  other principal initials throughout are supplied in red and blue with reserved white and embellished with pen-work in red and green;  smaller initials throughout are supplied in red or blue, often with reserved white and with marginal flourishes.
Imperfections:	Wanting all before Proverbs i.e. all before CCXCVI;  wanting the final blank leaf 75/6.