There are 6 volumes to the Bible and they are not in the safe at the Department. Jurczyk creates a wonderful book around the missing volumes of the Bible.
I had certainly heard of the Gutenberg Bible, the book that heralded the age of print in the Western world, but I had not known of the Plantin Polyglot Bible. A quick Google search revealed the stunning Bible.
It is Polyglot as it is written in multiple languages - Hebrew, Chaldean (Aramaic), Greek, Latin and Syriac. Printed between 1568-1572 in Antwerp the Bible is a magnificent work of book making. Plantin’s goal was, as stated in Christie’s who were selling a vellum copy in 2018, to “produce the finest Bible in all Christendom”.
There were 1,200 copies printed on paper and 12 copies on vellum. The vellum copies were for King Philip II of Spain. The skins of 8,000 sheep were needed to print the vellum copies.
Christie’s says:
Plantin devoted 5 years, up to 4 presses and 40 workment to print the Bible. He had been acquiring types from the best type-cutters and designers of the day - Guillaume Le Be and Cornelis van Bomberghen for Hebrew and Brobert Granjon for Greek and Syriac …
Between financial issues and strife in the Netherlands the last two volumes, the Apparatus Sacra, were only printed on paper.
The vellum copies, because of weight, were bound into 11 volumes instead of 6 volumes.
In the book it is the paper version which has been bought by the library.
It was not until I saw the photos from Christie’s, which in 2018 auctioned the only vellum copy in the world in private hands, that I appreciated the majesty of the Bible as described in Jurczyk’s book.
It would be an amazing experience to hold and look at a volume.
Christie’s sold the vellum Plantin Polyglot Bible for 488,750 pounds (Canadian $836,101)!
****
My review is at The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections.
Here is a link to a wonderful video from Christie’s auction information.
Eva had an interesting conversation with John Shoesmith, the Outreach Librarian at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the University of Toronto about her book and her work at the year. The Fisher Library is the inspiration for the library in her book. Here is a link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mkaGbdAfa0&t=246s
What a book that must be, Bill! It sounds absolutely fascinating, and just thinking about it appeals to the linguist in me. It would be so interesting to see how the different languages express the messages, and how similar those messages are after they've been written in different languages. It must have taken so much time to put that together. I respect the artistry and craft that must have gone into that.
ReplyDeleteMargot: Thanks for the comment. Examining some photos of the pages is fascinating. Leading Biblical scholars of the time worked upon the texts.
Delete