Beschreibung:

BIBLE, New Testament, in Greek. Edited by Robert Estienne. Paris: Robert Estienne, 1550. 2 parts in one volume, 2° (323 x 209mm). Greek type in three sizes designed by Claude Garamond including the first use of the largest size. Estienne woodcut basilisk device [Schreiber B1] on title and divisional title, and olive tree device on final page [Schreiber 10], woodcut ornamental canon tables, woodcut ornamental initials and headpiece, ruled in red. (Title lightly creased, faint marginal dampstain in a few leaves, tiny stabhole at extreme margin, last quire reinforced at hinge.) English early 19th-century red morocco over thick pasteboards, neoclassical border on sides, spine elaborately gilt, gilt turn-ins, marbled endpapers, plain edges (discrete, minor repairs to joints, very light scuffing). Provenance : Edward Ryder, Oakney Rectory, Wilts. (19th-century flyleaf inscription) -- Patrick Robinson, bibliophile (1927-1999); by descent to the present owner. EDITIO REGIA, the third and most important Estienne edition of the Greek New Testament. It is the first to contain a critical apparatus, here prepared by Estienne from consultation of 15 manuscripts, including the famous Codex Bezae. It established the text for the Greek New Testament which remained the standard for the next two centuries. This edition 'is universally recognized as the best-known and most influential of Robert Estienne's works' (Schreiber). Adams B-1661; D & M 4622; Mortimer, Harvard French , 78; Schreiber, Estiennes , 105.