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Bible, in English. The Holy Bible, Containing the Bookes of the Old & New Testament. Cambridge: John Field, 1660-59....
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$5,750.00
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Description
Bible, in English. The Holy Bible, Containing the Bookes of the Old & New Testament. Cambridge: John Field, 1660-59.Folio (420 x 280 mm). Engraved general title showing Solomon on his throne by Lombart after Diepenbeck; ruled in red throughout; bound without the plates. Bound in a contemporary English Restoration binding of black goatskin over heavy oak boards, covers richly gilt with a double roll border, the inner border with a repeated pattern incorporating floral and crown tools surrounding a large central quatrefoil-shaped ornament built up of individual tools as in the inner border on covers with the same crown device at top and bottom, spine richly gilt in seven compartments with six raised bands, gilt-lettered in one, the remaining panels decorated in alternating designs built up of individual tools used on the covers, spine bands, board edges and turn-ins gilt, edges gilt; engraved silver clasps and corner-pieces.
An attractive copy in a contemporary restoration binding of Ogilby's 1660 reissue of Field's 1659 Bible (Herbert 666), updated to reflect the restoration of King Charles II to the throne, with a new finely engraved title-page that celebrated divinely appointed monarchy by depicting Solomon enthroned.
Originally published in 1659 by John Field, printer for Cambridge University Press, this work was designed to be a lectern Bible for churches and libraries. In 1660, John Ogilby acquired the edition and reissued it with illustrations, including a new engraved title-page depicting King Solomon on the throne, targeting the private market. The Bible has been referred to as "Ogilby's Bible" and "The Restoration Bible." Ogilby presented a copy to King Charles II in 1660, when the monarch visited the Royal Chapel in Whitehall following his restoration.
This Bible was issued in two volumes, containing the Prayer Book preceded by a full-page engraving of the royal arms and dedication of the whole volume to King Charles II. The present copy is a single volume containing the Old Testament, the Apocrypha and the New Testament (with letterpress title-page dated 1659); colophon dated 1659. It is bound without Ogilby's chorographical plates and engravings by Cornelis Visscher and others, and does not include the prayer book, with engraved plate of royal arms and all other plates. When found in two volumes the Apocrypha and New Testament are sometimes bound following the Book of Common Prayer in the second volume.
Condition: Volume rebacked in calf at an early date preserving original spine, upper cover has since become detached; some rubbing with a few scratches to covers; minor edgewear; silver hardware a bit tarnished. Endpapers with a little wear to corners; some minor marginal soiling or toning; leaf Aa3 trimmed along blank fore-margin (approx. 1 inch); blank leaf before NT with a few short tears and with mounted family records (see provenance); occasional minor marginal flaws.
References: Darlow & Moule 525; Herbert 668; Wing B2258.
Provenance: Robert Hillman family, of Amesbury and Andover, England (blank leaf Aa3 before NT with manuscript family records from the late18th-19th century, some other related notes including a family tree mounted to blank leaf or laid in); St. Paul's Church, Worthing, West Sussex (donation note).
Auction Info
2025 December 15 Rare Books Signature® Auction #6323 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
December, 2025
15th
Monday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 9
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