The First Four Centuries of Printed Bible Illustration

Title

The First Four Centuries of Printed Bible Illustration

Description

Exploration of the development of illustration within Bibles over four centuries.

Creator

Bridwell Library Special Collections

Publisher

SMU Libraries

Date

Originally exhibited January 28–May 18, 2013.

Collection Items

06169
First illustrated Bible in the history of European typography and first Bible with woodcuts.

Prothro B-01
Example of "Paris Vulgate" tradition, single-volume with books in canonical sequence. As was typical of the Paris Vulgate tradition, the only spaces allotted for illustrations were the interiors of the initials, which received either a portrayal of…

06127
Early printed Bibles offered no accommodation for pictorial decoration aside from indented spaces for the addition of handwritten initials. This Bible's only illustration is of St. Jerome included within the space left for the intial "F" .

07081
Single leaf from a German blockbook showing an illustration from the Book of Revelation. Woodblock print with hand coloring.

06170
Second printing of Zainer's Bible using the same illustrations from his edition printed around 1474.

Quentell
Single leaf from Heinrich Quentell's first Bible in Low German. The illustration is from a woodblock and is hand colored. The woodblocks were used in future German Bibles.

06173
The majority of the 109 woodcuts used in this Nuremberg edition of the German Bible of 1483 originally were produced in Cologne for Heinrich Quentell's Low German Bible of c. 1478. The woodcuts were hand colored.

06172
Four horsemen of the apocalypse pictured together as typical of 15th century German art. The illustrations are hand-colored wood engravings.

06146
Small folio edition of the Italian translation of the Bible by Niccolò Malermi (c. 1422–1481) including woodcut illustrations.

06174
Low German Bible translation of the Bible with woodcuts by anonymous artists.

Prothro B-197
Second edition of the pocket-sized octavo Latin Bible known as the "poor man's Bible". Includes marginal chapter differences and references, a subject index, and a tabular summary of the books. Earliest printed Latin Bible with a woodcut…

06141
First Printed Vulgate with woodcuts throughout. Includes the typical details of Vulgate Bibles at the time: printed initials, chapter numbers, book headlines, foliation, marginal references, chapter subdivisions, and additional readers' aids.

06857
Biblical commentary with printed woodcut illustrations of images and diagrams based on Nicholas de Lyra's Postilla.

06147
One of the first Ventian books with extensive woodcuts. This Bible has commentaries, illustrations, and diagrams.

06154
Biblical text, commentary, illustrations, and captions are featured in this biblical commentary.

06156
This 1498 edition of the Vulgate with commentaries includes numerous woodcut illustrations based on Nicholas de Lyra's interpretations.

31462
Medieval translation of the Bible into Czech that includes rich woodcut illustrations.

Prothro B-20
Richly hand-colored, this 1511 edition of the Vulgate features hundreds of small woodcuts previously used in various fifteenth-century Venetian editions.

BRA0930
Martin Luther's second edition German Bible, known as "Dezembertestament" or the "December Testament" includes woodcut illustrations done by Lucas Cranach the Elder.

BRB0113
Small-format edition of the New Testament translated into Low German from Luther's German New Testament translation.

BRA0269/C
Bible with woodcut illustrations including a title page with Basel arms carved from a woodblock by Hans Lützelburger after an original design by Hans Holbein the Younger (1497–1543).

AER5604
The woodcuts in this edition of the Bible are copies from Holbein's Old Testament illustrations from the 1520s.

10226
118 Old Testament illustrations that Holbien produced in the 1520s.

31463
Woodcut illustrations with hand coloring.

Prothro B-192
First edition of the Danish translation of the Lutheran Bible includes illustrations from woodcuts by Erhard Altdorfer (c. 1485–1561).
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