Venetian Bible with Commentaries

[Latin Bible, with commentaries]. Biblia latina cum postillis Nicolai de Lyra et expositionibus Guillelmi Britonis.
Volume 1 of four.
Venice: [Bonetus Locatellus, for] Octavianus Scotus, 1489.

One of the first Venetian books to make extensive use of woodcuts, this Bible with surrounding commentaries includes forty-seven illustrations and diagrams. The exhibited pages, introducing the book of Genesis, feature a fine woodcut of the Creation as well as a woodcut initial in which the Tree of Knowledge substitutes for the first letter of the words “In Principio.” The designs for the woodcuts in this edition have been attributed to the “Master of the Pico Pliny,” the anonymous but prolific artisan who previously had specialized in the illumination of Venetian manuscripts and printed books.