Gutenberg Bible Leaf, 4 Esdras 8–9
Gutenberg Bible Leaf, 4 Esdras 8–9
INC.000117
Incunable
ca. 1454
Mainz, (Germany)
Latin
Printed on Paper
16.2 × 11.8 × 0.7 in. (41.4 × 30 × 1.8 cm)
Not on View
This page, containing 4 Esdras 8:12–9:17, is from the first edition of the Gutenberg Bible, the first printed edition of the Bible. The year of the first printing cannot be determined with certainty, but sometime in the middle of the 1450s, Gutenberg produced a copy of the Latin Vulgate. The Gutenberg Bible is in two columns of 42 lines and closely resembles a manuscript, using typeset that mimics period handwriting with ornamentation added by hand. This “Noble Fragment,” sold by Gabriel Wells from an incomplete Gutenberg Bible in 1921, is a page from the apocryphal book 4 Esdras (also called 2 Esdras). It is bound with an essay by Alfred Edward Newton, which typically accompanied Well’s “Noble Fragments,” and additional endpapers. Estelle Doheny inscribed and dated her presentation to St. Mary’s of the Barrens on one of the endpapers.
Printed by 1455 in Mainz, Germany, by Johannes Gutenberg. Acquired before July 21, 1789, by Carl-Theodor von Pfalz-Sulzbach (1724–1799) and Maria Elisabeth Augusta von Sulzbach (1721–1794) of Mannheim;[1] Delivered shortly after Carl-Theodor von Pfalz-Sulzbach’s death to the Bavarian Court Library in Munich (which became the Bavarian Royal Library in 1804);[2] Purchased on August 23, 1832, by Robert Curzon, 14th Baron Zouche (1810–1873); By descent in 1873 to Robert Nathaniel Cecil George Curzon, 15th Baron Zouche; By descent in 1915 to Darea Curzon, 16th Baroness Zouche; By descent in 1917 to Mary Cecil Frankland, 17th Baroness Zouche; Purchased at auction in 1920 by Frank M. Sabin; Purchased in 1920 by Gabriel Wells (1862–1946), who broke the Bible up to sell as book-length fragments and single pages with the blue binding and “Noble Fragment” essay in 1921.[3] Acquired by Dawson’s Rare Books, Los Angeles; Purchased by Carrie Estelle Doheny (1875–1958);[4] Donated in 1936 to St. Mary’s of the Barrens, Perryville, Missouri;[5] Sold at auction in 2001. Acquired by Jonathan Byrd’s Rare Books, Goodyear, Arizona; Privately purchased in 2010 by Green Collection, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Donated in 2012 to Museum of the Bible, Washington, DC.
Notes: [1] Carl-Theodor von Pfalz-Sulzbach, also known as Charles Theodore, was the Electoral Prince of the Palatinate and, later, the Electoral Prince of Bavaria. Theodor pursued the goal of building a scientific library with a collection of antiquarian literature. [2] Sold in their duplicate sale in 1832 for 350 guilders. [3] Sold at auction by Sotheby’s, London on November 9, 1920, Lot 70. The provenance from the late eighteenth through the early twentieth century is taken from Eric Marshall White, Editio Princeps: A History of the Gutenberg Bible (Harvey Miller Publishers: London, 2017), 132–133. This Gutenberg Bible was the source of all the so-called “Noble Fragments”; the Morgan Library gives very similar provenance on their website for their fragment http://www.themorgan.org/incunables/145177. [4] Provenance listed in the auction catalog Christie’s New York, The Estelle Doheny Collection from St. Mary’s of the Barrens, Perryville, Missouri (New York: Christie’s, 2001), 55. Estelle Doheny inscribed a note on the modern endpaper presenting this to St. Mary’s dated June 30, 1936.
Published References:
Eric Marshall White, Editio Princeps: A History of the Gutenberg Bible (Harvey Miller Publishers: London, 2017).
Don Cleveland Norman, The 500th Anniversary Pictorial Census of the Gutenberg Bible (The Coverdale Press: Chicago, 1961).
Questions about our Collections?
To acquire permission to use this image, please visit our Rights and Reproduction page .
More From The Collections
