Biblia Hebraica
Leipzig: I. G. I. Breitkopf and Associates, 1793. First edition. Hardcover. Two volumes, octavo (18.1 by 10.6 cm). xii, [6], 360, 302; 352, 404 pp. Title-pages and first-volume preface in Latin; half-titles for the Pentateuch, Former Prophets, Latter Prophets, and Hagiographa. Main text in Hebrew. Contemporary green paper boards with title-labels, edges stained red. Illustrated head pieces such as the heavens before Genesis and King David at prayer before Psalms. First volume covers slightly warped. Spines sunned. Library stamp on title and back pages. Minor worm tracing at first the 32 leaves vol. 2, resulting in the loss of a word or two along the line, else a good or better ex-library copy.
Complete Old Testament in Hebrew with traditional cantillation marks and scholarly footnotes indicating varying textual readings. Latin chapter headings summarize content. Preface in Latin by Johann Heinrich Meisner offers a history of the project. In the back is an appendix showing variant readings from the De Rossi Codex. There is also a chart giving the weekly readings from the Pentateuch and prophets. This Bible exemplifies early modern Protestant interest in being able to read the Old Testament in the original Hebrew. This was a product of their belief in sola scriptura, that only the basis for religious authority was the Bible.
Provenance: Stamps of the Franciscan monastery at Eggenfelden in Bavaria. Good+. Item #18880
References: Darlow & Moule 5163; Orme, Bibl. Biblica, pp. 238-9.
Full title and imprint: Biblia Hebraica olim a B. Christiano Reineccio edita et ad optimorum codicum et editionum fidem recensita et expressa nunc denuo ad fidem recensionis Masoreticae cum variis lectionibus ex ingenti codicum copia a B. Kennicotto et I. B. de Rossi collatorum ediderunt D. Io. Christoph. Doederlein... et Joannes Henricus Meisner... Lipsiae: impensis I. G. I. Breitkopfii et Soc. MDCCXCIII.
Price: $275.00