1616 King James Holy Bible First Edition Lectern Folio, Chained and Armoured Binding

Description

1616 King James Holy Bible Lectern Folio, 1st Edition,4 Titles, Chained & Armoured Binding

PRESENTING FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION – EXQUISITE GENUINE 400 YEAR OLD *KING JAMES BIBLE*

PRINTED BY ROBERT BARKER PRINTER TO HIS ROYAL MAJESTY AT LONDON IN 1616. THE FIRST IN A SERIES OF FOUR LECTERN FOLIOS PRINTED AT LONDON IN ROMAN TYPE FONT- 1616, 1629, 1632 AND 1639. *** FIRST EDITION THUS ! *** AMAZING CHAINED AND ARMOURED FINE BINDING ! 66 LINES OF  ROMAN TYPE TO THE FULL PAGE, MEASURES 12 3/4″ x 8 3/4″ x 3 1/2″ OVERALL &  FULLY RESTORED. HERBERT # 349, D & M # 271, STC # 2245.

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COLLATION & CONDITION

THE GENEALOGIES TITLE PAGE, 1 page, by J.S. (John Speed), re-margined without loss to the image, features beautiful floriated borders with an ornate cherubic headline, verso with “To the Christian Reader”,  that is, the instructions on how to benefit from the pages that follow, Nice !, COMPLETE. 

THE GENEALOGIES RECORDED IN THE SACRED SCRIPTURES ACCORDING TO EVERY FAMILY AND TRIBE:…, paginated 1-34, (bound without the map), a pictorial family tree of Christ from God the Father through Mary and Joseph, excellent margins throughout, paper is clean, crisp and supple, no torn loose or missing pages, clean gutters, straight edges and good corners, some minor faint marginal staining not affecting the text, Very Good Example!,  COMPLETE. 

KING JAMES DEDICATION,  2 pages, features a wonderful fleuron headpiece and a beautiful historiated initial, faint damp staining to blank margin without offense, Historic !,  COMPLETE. 

THE TRANSLATORS TO THE READER, 14 pages, the forward, features a lovely historiated headline and a floriated initial on the opening page, very ornate cherubic engraving on the final page, clean and crisp, faint damp staining to blank margins without offense, Historic !, Very Good !, COMPLETE. 

GENERAL TITLE PAGE, 1 page, printed at London by Robert Barker, printer to the King’s most excellent majesty, 1616. The border resembles that used in some editions of the Bishops Bible; at the top are the royal arms supported by the figures representing Justice and Mercy; below is a tablet bearing the words Cum Privilegio Regiae Majestatis, supported by a lion and a unicorn; at the bottom are the initials C.B. , lower corner torn and has been restored with facsimile fragment, Very Nice !  COMPLETE.

THE NAMES AND THE ORDER OF ALL THE BOOKES OF THE OLDE AND NEW TEFTAMENT…, 1 page, the table of contents, printed in a double column with 3 floriated initials, a couple of dots of soiling, Very Good!, COMPLETE. 

THE GARDEN OF EDEN ENGRAVING, 1 page, A lovely full page highly detailed image featuring God the Father in a cloud of smoke, the tree of life with the serpent’s coils, Adam and Eve, the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, the beasts of the field and even a pair of unicorns !, printed to the paper’s edge as intended, very clean, Just Beautiful!, COMPLETE. 

THE OLD TESTAMENT, foliated 1- 344 , mis-numbered at times, 66 lines of Roman type to the full page, features beautiful floriated initials, No torn, loose or missing pages, clean gutters, straight edges and good corners, adequate margins throughout trimmed tight to the occasional headline and printed marginal notes, paper is bright and crisp, some occasional minimal damp staining and soiling, generally very clean in the main. Leaf 3 has a torn corner with loss of text, however, a complete duplicate facsimile leaf has been tipped in before it restoring the text. Leaf 31 and 242-245 are supplied in fine facsimile, worm traces to middle inner blank margins 1-48, lower inner blank margins 174- 183 and 280-318 all not affecting the text, ornate cherubic engraving on the final leaf, Nice!,  COMPLETE. 

THE APOCRYPHA,  paginated 345- 425 , mis-numbered at times, 66 lines of Roman type to the full page, features beautiful floriated initials, No torn, loose, or missing pages, clean gutters, straight edges and strong corners, good margins throughout, paper is bright and crisp, faint damp staining to blank margins and some blank footers without offense, some occasional light soiling , leaf 364 & 365 with repaired margins resulting in the loss of the printed notes and several letters of the text, Very Good !, COMPLETE. 

NEW TESTAMENT TITLE PAGE, 1 page, THE NEW TESTAMENT OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST NEWLY TRANSLATED OUT OF THE ORIGINAL GREEK: AND WITH THE FORMER TRANSLATIONS DILIGENTLY COMPARED AND REVISED BY HIS MAJESTIES SPECIAL COMMANDEMENT. IMPRINTED AT LONDON, BY ROBERT BARKER, PRINTER TO THE KINGS MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTIE. ANNO DOM. 1616, A lovely full page engraving that is a duplicate of the general title with the wording changed, verso blank, very clean, Beautiful !, COMPLETE. 

THE NEW TESTAMENT, foliated 428- 535 , mis-numbered at times, 66 lines of Roman type to the full page, features beautiful floriated initials, No torn, loose, or missing pages, clean gutters, straight edges and strong corners,  adequate margins throughout trimmed tight at times into the printed marginal notes, paper is bright and crisp, occasional faint damp staining to the blank margins without offense, occasional scattered light soiling, minor worm traces to lower inner blank margins from 432-456 not affecting the text, leaves 465 & 466 supplied in facsimile and mistakenly inserted after leaf 462, leaves 519 & 520 also supplied in facsimile, beautiful cherubic engraving on the verso of leaf 528, ends with “FINIS”, colophon dated 1616, Nice!, COMPLETE. 

THE WHOLE BOOKE OF PSALMES TITLE PAGE, 1 page, printed for the Company of Stationers at London 1612. Featuring a verse from James 5 and Colossians 3 and lovely woodcut with angels and a mermaid, verso is blank and clean, Just Wonderful !, COMPLETE. 

THE WHOLE BOOKE OF PSALMES COLLECTED INTO ENGLISH MEETER…., paginated 1-114,  Featuring musical staves throughout, 63 lines of Roman type to the full page, No torn or loose pages, clean gutters, straight edges and strong corners, wide margins throughout, paper is bright and crisp, some faint damp staining, scattered light soiling throughout, worm traces to upper inner blank margins not affecting the text, lacks the final leaf, Very Nice !

**ABOUT THE BINDING**

THIS BIBLE IS IN A WONDERFUL NEW DARK BROWN FULL LEATHER CHAINED AND ARMOURED BINDING. THE COVER BOARDS HAVE BEAUTIFULLY BLIND STAMPED  IN THE CAMBRIDGE STYLE. THE SPINE FEATURES 5 RAISED CORDS CREATING SIX COMPARTMENTS FEATURING WONDERFUL GOLD STAMPED MEDALLIONS, BLIND STAMPED DECORATION ON EACH SIDE OF THE CORDS,  A RED MOROCCO LABEL GOLD STAMPED “HOLY BIBLE” AND IS GOLD STAMPED “1616” AT THE BOTTOM. THE SOLID BRASS CORNERS, MEDALLIONS, CLASPS, CHAIN AND RINGLETS WERE HANDMADE BY AN ITALIAN CRAFTSMAN THAT TOOK OVER 20 HOURS TO MAKE, ASSEMBLE AND INSTALL. THE TEXT BLOCK IS STRONG,SQUARE AND IS UNSHAKEN. VIVID HANDMADE MARBLED END PAPERS FINISH THIS RESTORATION BEAUTIFULLY.

A HISTORIC EXAMPLE WITH TONS OF SHELF APPEAL THAT WILL SURELY DELIGHT BOTH THE SENSES AND THE SOUL !

 

Why A Chain ?

A chained library is a library where the books are attached to their bookcase by a chain, which is sufficiently long to allow the books to be taken from their shelves and read, but not removed from the library itself. A chain is attached at one end to the front cover of each book via a ringlet. The other end of the chain also included a ringlet that was placed around a shelf length rod. This rod was horizontally attached to the shelf and secured in place with a lock. To remove the book from the shelf, the librarian would use a key. Because of the location of the chain attached to the book, the books are housed with their spine facing away from the reader with only the pages’ fore edges visible (that is, the ‘wrong’ way around to people accustomed to contemporary libraries). This is so that each book can be removed and opened without needing to be turned around, hence avoiding tangling its chain. This would prevent theft of the library’s materials. However, it also led to crowding and awkwardness when readers had to stand side by side, each holding a book or clumping so they could share one. The practice was usual for reference libraries (that is, the vast majority of libraries) from the Middle Ages to approximately the 19th century. However, since the chaining process was also expensive, it was not used on all books. Only the more valuable books in a collection were chained. This included reference books and large books.

The earliest example in England of a library to be endowed for use outside an institution such as a school or college was the Francis Trigge Chained Library in Grantham, Lincolnshire, established in 1598. The library still exists and can justifiably claim to be the forerunner of later public library systems. Marsh’s Library in Dublin, built 1701, is another non institutional library which is still housed in its original building. Here it was not the books that were chained, but rather the readers were locked into cages to prevent rare volumes from ‘wandering’. 

 The chaining of books was the most widespread and effective security system in European libraries from the Middle Ages to the 19th century, and Hereford Cathedral’s 17th-century Chained Library is the largest to survive with all its chains, rods and locks intact.

The Chained Library at Hereford Cathedral is a unique and fascinating treasure in Britain’s rich heritage of library history; there were books at Hereford Cathedral long before there was a ‘library’ in the modern sense. The cathedral’s earliest and most important book is the 8th-century Hereford Gospels; it is one of 229 medieval manuscripts which now occupy two bays of the Chained Library. There has been a working theological library at the cathedral since the 12th century, and the whole library continues to serve the cathedral’s work and witness both as a research center and as a tourist attraction.

 The chained library in Wimborne Minster is the second-largest chained library in the UK. The first donation came from Revd William Stone. These were theological books, used mainly by the clergy and therefore were not chained. When another local donor, Roger Gillingham, gave another 90 books in 1695, he insisted that the books be chained up, but also that the Library should be opened, free, for the people of the town, providing they were ‘shopkeepers or the better class of person’.

Recently, there has been increased interest in reconstructing chained libraries. Worldwide, only five chained libraries have survived with their original furniture, chains, and books. This includes the library built in the Church of Saint Walpurga, located in the small town of Zutphen in the Netherlands. This library was built in 1564. The library is now part of a museum that allows visitors to tour and view the library’s original books, furniture, and chains. Another chained library is the Malatestiana Library in Cesena near Bologna in Italy, dating back to the Italian Renaissance. A lot of work has gone into rebuilding and preserving these great libraries. 

Surviving examples of chained libraries:

The chained books in St Peter’s Church, Wootton Wawen.

Bolton School, Bolton, England

Chelsea Old Church, London, England

Chetham’s Library, Manchester, England houses the chained parish library of Gorton

Church of All Saints, Wrington, England

Church of St John the Baptist, Glastonbury, England

Francis Trigge Chained Library, Grantham, England

Hereford Cathedral Library, Hereford, England

Malatestiana Library, Cesena, Italy

Royal Grammar School, Guildford, England

St Peter’s Church, Wootton Wawen, England

St Walburga’s Church, Zutphen, The Netherlands

Trinity Hall, Cambridge, England

Wimborne Minster, England

Wells Cathedral, Somerset, England

*A WORD FROM THE CONSERVATOR*

This Bible has undergone a page by page comprehensive paper conservation that has included  cleaning where possible and repairing any tears leaving no condition concerns or further actions required . Many newer collectors often call into question the authenticity of our Bibles because of their outstanding , fine condition. As with any item of age, value is determined according to condition-condition-condition ! Each and every leaf is  guaranteed authentic as intended by the original printer .This ancient 17th century treasure is NOT a replica, reproduction, facsimile, reprint or forgery. The fine art of hand bookbinding is alive and well. We strive hard to acquire only those Bibles which we would like to collect ourselves, perform any needed restoration work professionally to archival standards and present them to you free from concerns. There has been much discussion regarding the addition of this volume to our permanent collection ! A RARE OPPORTUNITY TO OWN A TRUE MUSEUM PIECE!