Beschreibung:

GUTENBERG, Johann, printer.] -- BIBLE, Latin. [Mainz: Johann Gutenberg and Fust, 1455].
GUTENBERG, Johann, printer.] -- BIBLE, Latin. [Mainz: Johann Gutenberg and Fust, 1455]. Royal 2 o (387 x 270 mm). Single leaf from vol. II, containing the Gospel of St. Luke 22:30 to 23:30. 42 lines, double column. Type: 1:140G. One two-line Lombard initial supplied in blue, headlines and chapter numbers in alternating red and blue letters, capital strokes in red. Unwatermarked half of sheet. (Some minor marginal finger-soiling.) Tipped-in to: A Noble Fragment: Being a leaf of the Gutenberg Bible, with a bibliographical essay by A. Edward Newton . New York: Gabriel Wells, 1921. Dark blue morocco gilt, by Stikeman and Co. (spine chipped at head, old tape adhesion on flyleaf). Provenance : Maria Elisabeth Augusta von Sulzbach (1721-1794), wife of Carl Theodore, Electoral Prince of the Palatinate, subsequently Electoral Prince of Bavaria; Mannheim, Hofbibliothek; Munich, Royal Library (their duplicate sale, 1832, sold for 350 guilders); Robert Curzon Baron Zouche (1810-1873, and by descent until sold); Sotheby's 9 November 1920, lot 70, to Joseph Sabin; sold by him to; Gabriel Wells, who broke up the copy, dispersing it in single leaves, many of them accompanied by A.Edward Newton's essay, as here, and in larger fragments; Beverly Chew (bookplate, his sale Anderson, 8 December 1924, lot 184); Paul Hyde Bonner (bookplate, his sale AAA/Anderson 15 February 1934, lot 139); anonymous owner, sold Parke Bernet 11 December 1952, lot 55, Emil Offenbacher agent. INSCRIBED BY A. EDWARD NEWTON on the flyleaf: "The great success of this publication led me, several years later, to take for the title 'The Greatest Book in the World,' of which I am not, yet, ashamed. A. Edward Newton. New York, February 17, 1926." This is a fine leaf from the Gutenberg Bible, being the end of Chapter XXII and beginning of Chapter XIII of the Gospel of St. Luke in which is described Christ's agony on the mount, the betrayal, Peter's denial and Christ's appearance before Pilate. BMC I, 17 (IC.55); BSB-Ink. B-408; Chalmers Disbound and Dispersed 18; CIBN B-361; DeRicci/ Mayence 53 (=78); GW 4201; Hain *3031; Needham P18; Norman, pp. 253-258; Pr 56; Goff B-526.