Beschreibung:

BIBLE, English. The Holy Bible containing the Old Testament and the New . - The Whole Book of Psalmes, Collected into English metre, by Th. Sternhold, John Hopkins, and others . Cambridge: Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel, 1638. 3 parts in one, 2 o (405 x 264 mm). Engraved title to the Bible by William Marshall titles to New Testament and Book of Common Prayer within woodcut borders and printer's devices; woodcut initals, musical staves and head- and tail-pieces. Double column, ruled in red throughout; title-pages with penwork decoration supplied in red. (Bound without the Apocrypha [Kkk-Xxx 6 Yyy 4 ]). CAMBRIDGE BINDING: Contemporary gold-tooled black turkey, covers with a series of twelve concentric rectangles enclosing a central panel containing a central ornament, fleur-de-lys tools at each corner, smooth spine with two similarly decorated panels, edges gilt, by JOHN HOULDEN (joints lightly rubbed, spine slightly faded, lacks ties); cloth chemise and slipcase. Provenance : John Brown Clerk to Parliament (presentation inscription from Cambridge University on front free endpaper: "Alma Cantabrigiensis Academia hanc Bibliam [insigne quidem gratitudinis testimonium] Johanni Browne Armigero Parliamentore Angliae Clerico dedit A o Dom. 1647"; and autograph letter to Browne accompanying the volume, dated 2 November 1647, tipped-in [see below]) -- Nathaniel Philip Simes (1805-62), noted book collector, especially of important liturgical books (pencil note on rear flyleaf; see his sale, Sotheby's 9 July 1886, lot 499) -- Estelle Doheny (morocco bookplate; purchased from Rosenbach, 23 July 1942) -- donated to SMS 27 July 1942. A SUPERB TALL COPY IN A FINE RESTORATION BINDING BY JOHN HOULDEN COMMISSIONED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE FOR PRESENTATION. A revision of the folio Cambridge Bible of 1629, in which the reviser "took special pains to render uniform the use of italics; and they also introduced a certain number of new readings...Here first occurs the famous reading in Acts vi. 3, ... whom ye may appoint (for ... whom we ...). This alterations has often been ascribed to the Puritans, and was reputed to have cost Cromwell a bribe of £1000; yet here it is found as early as 1638, in a Bible prepared under the royal sanction" (Herbert). It remained the standard text until the publication of Dr. Paris' Cambridge edition of 1762. The autograph letter from Thomas Hill the Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, to John Browne reads: "Worth Sir I have commission from those whose servant I am, in sense of ye care of, & kindness to this University to present unto you this flower out of a Cambridge Garden, a Bible of their owne printinge. Nothinge soe fitt for an university to tender as a Booke; Noe Booke soe suitable (in their apprehension) as a Bible, unto you who have found the word of God your Counsellor & Comforter, & learned to make it yr delight. Be pleased to accept this small expression, And owne me as Yr Affectionate Servant Thomas Hill Tr. Coll. Nov. 2, 1647." Thomas Hill was confirmed as vice-chancellor of the University of Cambridge in 1647-8 by a patent issued by parliament. It is possible John Browne as Clerk to Parliament was instrumental in some way toward his confirmation. John Houlden was active as a binder in Cambridge as early as 1631, and Nixon assigns several bindings from this period to him: "He probably bound the Broxbourne Library Vere , which was evidently a present from the editor, then Vice-Chancellor of the University, to Charles II at the time of the Restoration. He certainly bound copies of the Cambridge congratulatory verses to Charles II on his marriage in 1662. The only identified example of these has a design very similar to that found on the doublures of two volumes of The Works of King Charles the Martyr , 1662, one of which belonged to Major Abbey, while the other is in the British Library ( English Restoration Bookbindings , p. 48 and pl. 124). The present binding resembles this identified exa