1st French printing. 1534 Greek New Testament, He Kaine Diatheke. Colines, Paris

The first French printing of the Greek New Testament, by Simon de Colines in 1534.

Colines developed new type for his printings, which evolved to the modern "Garamond". This work was printed in Colines' second Greek type and is the first appearance of these letters.

Darlow and Moule state "earliest attempt at a critical edition" as Colines drew the text from a variety of sources.

In a blog on this work (by Beidi Brett) at the J. Willard Marriott Library website, they recount, "Simon de Colines edited the text, using printed and manuscript sources. To save his own neck, Colines hid the involvement of the book’s printer, Protestant typefounder Antoine Augereau. Augereau was condemned as a heretic, hung, and then burned at the stake on Christmas Eve 1534, only a few days after finishing the printing of Ha Kaine Kiatheke."

This edition somewhat scarce to the market. Rare Book Hub (November 2024, searching the term "Kaine" and the date "1534") returns only two results, 1. a Forum sale in 2021 for 1,750 pounds and 2. a Swann sale in 2018 with a result of $5,500.

This copy was annotated, but was either washed, or the ink faded away. The annotations are now ghostly (although, a black-light flashlight brings them out).

Bibliographic Details -

Universal Short Title Catalogue (USTC) number 185380, found in eight of the world's best libraries.

Catalogue of Books Printed on the Continent... Adams, reference B 1652

Manuel de Libraire..., Brunet, 5th edition, volume 5, column 736

French Vernacular Books..., Pettegree, Walsby and Wilkinson, 2007, reference 57855

... Editions Parisiennes..., Moreau, reference IV 880

Physical Attributes -

Measures approx. 16 x 9.5 x 3 cm. Leather binding; evidence spine/joints replaced and spine relaid. Boards with Cambridge style decoration in gilt with frames of fillet and corner florets. Spine (although faded) richly decorated in the French style with five raised spines; five compartments with acorns, leaves, vines and pointille in gilt, and once compartment with the title and printer in gilt (in French). Date in gilt at base of spine. All edges gilt. Printer's mark at title page. Board edges and turn-ins with a gilt roll decoration. White and blue double endbands.

Pages - Title page, 1-233, (1 blank leaf, H8), 234-414 (each leaf numbered), missing a blank leaf at the end.

Collation - Title leaf, b-f8, h2, i-z8, A-K8, L4, M-N8, O4, P8, Q6, R-X8, Y4, Z8, AA-BB8, CC6, DD8, EE2, FF-GG8, HH10, II8, KK9 (missing blank leaf K10).

Condition -

See pictures. Binding with some wear to edges/corners. Corners lightly bumped. Joints and spine repaired, well executed. Some darkening and rubbing to boards. Spine darkened, with some crazing and loss of gilt. Endbands cracked. Blank front endpapers with ex libris, bookseller, etc annotations.

Text block toned throughout with some foxing. Title page with several annotations and a small repair at gutter. Marginal annotations that have either been washed away, or faded away. d gathering, a moisture spot in the bottom margin. Very occasional dog-eared page and candle ember mark. h2 with 1” tear from fore-edge. p5 to s1 moisture mark along fore-edge in margin; occasionally shows up throughout to rear. Bottom corner chip A8. A little separation at gutter between E7 and E8. 1 cm chip bottom of R5. Some darkening at top edge near end. Thumbing at base of last leaf. Missing KK10 (a blank, at end).