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DELUXE ISSUE BOUND BY STADHOUDERLIJKE BINDERY, GOLD FASTENINGS
[BIBLE - DUTCH - MINIATURE - FASTENINGS - GOLD]. Kern des Bybels.
The Hague, Antony de Groot, 1750. 128mo in 4s (binding 4.5 x 3.0 x 1.0 cm). Title-page in red and black with woodcut device, woodcut frontispiece, 6 full-page (3.3 x 1.6 mm!) woodcut illustrations, and headpieces built up from fleurons. The drop-titles of the five chapters and the appendix are printed in red, as is the fleuron used as a tailpiece at the end of each. A much abbreviated Old and New Testament. Contemporary richly-tooled red morocco by the so-called first stadhouderlijke bindery, gold-tooled board edges, gold-brocade endpapers, gilt edges. Two gold clasps with catch-plates. In a modern half morocco box.
| Orders and Information | € 4250 |
First edition (deluxe issue, printed in red and black) of one of the smallest Bibles of its time, here beautifully bound by the so-called stadhouderlijke bindery in The Hague, with gold clasps and catch-plates (each catch-plate held by a pin with a decorated head) and gold-brocade endpapers. It gives an abbreviated version of the Old and New Testament, followed by an appendix with "Godtvrugtige Overdenkingen" (devout contemplations). The frontispiece shows St. Jerome, the next five woodcuts show biblical scenes (one preceding each of the five chapters) and that before the appendix shows a man praying. Antony de Groot (1698?-1755) set up his printing office in the Hague in 1733, including its own typefoundry from that date or soon after, and gained prominence when appointed city newspaper publisher in 1739. The present book is set in a tiny roman type, measuring 37 mm/20 lines (about 5.5 point).
The present copy is beautifully bound by one of the Netherlands' leading binderies, called the stadhouderlijke bindery because of the work it executed for the Dutch heads of state Willem IV and Willem V, Princes of Orange. It is believed to have been operated in the years 1749 to 1764 by Johanna Justina van Milaan, widow of the original founder Johannes Stofvoet. This bindery's work was "among the best produced in the Netherlands in the eighteenth century," but it produced little after the widow's death. The centrepiece on the present binding is their three acorn stamp, surrounded by stars and flowers. The gold-brocade endpapers show a floral pattern in white on light green, coloured with a calico pattern in orange, lavender and gold. The style of the flowers is similar to those in Haemmerle 42 (Heijdbroek & Greven 17, with an illustration), but we have not found an exact match in Haemmerle or Heijbroek & Greven. With the corner of one leaf torn off, slightly affecting one letter in a running head, one letter in the text and one band of fleurons, but further in very good condition. The binding is slightly worn at the hinges and corners, but also very good. A beautifully bound early miniature Bible, with gold fastenings and gold-brocade endpapers.
